Can I just choose not to hire certain employees when I buy the assets?

Generally, yes — in an asset purchase, you're a new employer, and there's no statutory obligation under the Employment Standards Act requiring you to hire any particular employee, or any employee at all, as part of buying a business's assets. This flexibility is one of the practical advantages many buyers see in structuring a deal as an asset purchase rather than a share purchase.

The important nuance is what happens to the employees you don't hire: they're being terminated by the seller, not by you, at the point the sale closes, since their employment with the selling corporation ends. That means the termination and severance obligations for those employees land on the seller, not on you — but it's worth knowing this in advance, since it affects the seller's own costs and can become a point of negotiation over price or timing.

For employees you do hire, remember that continuing their employment as part of a going-concern business sale can trigger continuity of service under the Employment Standards Act, so "starting fresh" with the ones you keep isn't quite as clean as it is with the ones you don't. A Treadstone business lawyer can help structure the transition properly.