The Future of Franchising

• Author: Frank Zaid
• Profession: Senior Partner Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
• Pages: 352-356

CHAPT ER 9

THE FUTURE OF

FR ANCHISING

A. INTRODUCTION

Franchising has c learly been established as an important element in the

Canadian economy, particularly in ter ms of gross revenues generated

by sales of products and ser vices associated with fra nchise systems.

In addition, there are substantial revenue dollars associated with the

products and serv ices supplied by th ird parties to franchise sy stems, as

well as employment opportunities cre ated both directly and indirectly

by franchising. The signif‌icance of franchising in the Canadi an econ-

omy cannot be overlooked by investors, government representatives,

elected politicians, and individual entrepreneurs.

The growth of franchise law has paralleled the growth of franchis-

ing in Canada to t he point where franchise law h as now become a so-

phisticated area of legal pract ice requiring ex pertise i n many diverse

areas of busines s law and litigation.

For the future, insofar as fr anchise law is concerned, t here is likely

to be further int roduction of provincial f ranchise legislation, greater ex-

pertise developed by the courts as t hey deal with a n increasing number

of franchise di sputes, and more effective government lobbying by fran-

chisors whose economic impact has re ached signif‌icant t hresholds.

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