Does the Class Proceedings Act, 1992, protect law firms representing plaintiffs from the potential costs consequences of unsuccessful litigation?

The plaintiffs assert that, absent an award of costs in their favour, the law firms representing them will suffer disastrous financial consequences because they will have to write-off all the time that they have spent on these cases. In my view, this submission is contrary to the aforementioned statement of Winkler J. in Smith v. Canadian Tire Acceptance Ltd., supra, that [at para. 59] "[t]he Class Proceedings Act, 1992 was never intended to insulate representative plaintiffs or class members, from the possible costs consequences of unsuccessful litigation". [page265]