Lion Electric’s consortium of buyers plans to transfer some of its employees to a shell company to fire them, the Attorney General of Canada’s court filing says. Lion’s owners aim to enroll those workers in the Wage Earner Protection Program, a move the attorney general condemned as “legal fiction” in a court filing. (The Logic)

Talking point: An ongoing court case to decide the electric-vehicle firm’s fate just got more complicated. The Wage Earner Protection Program requires the government to take on certain debts of companies that have ceased operations and fired all workers, but owe back wages like commissions, vacation pay or severance. If Lion bypasses those rules and keeps operating as a different entity, it would cause “absurd” collateral damage to other benefits like employment insurance, the government argued. Lawyers in Lion Electric’s insolvency case argue that buyer Pierre Wilkie and his investors would retain a portion of employees and Lion’s ownership in Quebec. Lion Electric spokespeople declined to comment.