What damages can I recover if someone breaches a contract in Ontario?

When a contract is breached in Ontario, the primary remedy is compensatory damages — money designed to put you in the position you would have been in had the contract been performed. Courts award what are called expectation damages, covering the benefit you expected from the deal minus any costs you saved.

You can also claim consequential (or special) damages for losses that flow naturally from the breach, but only if those losses were reasonably foreseeable to both parties when the contract was made. If you suffered additional losses that were too remote or surprising, those generally will not be recoverable.

Importantly, you have a legal duty to mitigate: you must take reasonable steps to limit your losses rather than letting them pile up and expecting the other side to cover everything. A court will reduce your damages if you failed to mitigate when you reasonably could have.

Punitive damages for breach of contract are rare in Ontario courts and are reserved for truly egregious conduct. In most commercial disputes, you will be compensating for actual financial loss rather than punishing the wrongdoer.