What factors must be considered in a variation application under the Divorce Act?

When a review is prescribed in an Agreement such as this, it cannot take place in a vacuum. In the absence of any procedural or substantive provisions in the Agreement itself, it is consistent with the parties’ reasonable expectations that the factors which govern a variation application under the Divorce Act should also govern the review. As for the factors to be taken into account, there is a body of legislative and common law material dealing with the relevant considerations in assessing or re-assessing, as the case may be, orders for corollary relief such as spousal support. What is clear from the cases is that the promotion of economic self-sufficiency is but one factor in the inquiry and it is no longer the predominate goal of spousal support arrangements: see Moge v. Moge, 1992 CanLII 25 (SCC), [1992] 3 S.C.R. 813.