What is the difference between a joint venture and a partnership under Ontario law?

A partnership is a defined legal relationship under Ontario's Partnerships Act, arising from persons carrying on business in common with a view to profit — and once that test is met, the statutory consequences follow automatically, including unlimited joint and several liability among the partners. A joint venture, by contrast, isn't a term defined in Ontario legislation at all; it's a flexible, contractual arrangement, often set up for a single project or limited purpose, that the parties structure themselves.

Because "joint venture" has no fixed legal meaning, calling an arrangement a joint venture doesn't automatically avoid partnership status — a court will look past the label the parties chose and examine the substance of the relationship against the Partnerships Act's own test. An arrangement that looks like a joint venture on paper but actually involves the parties carrying on an ongoing business together, sharing profits, and jointly making decisions can still be found to be a partnership in law, with all the liability consequences that come with it. If avoiding partnership liability matters to you, the agreement needs to be structured, and actually operated, in a way that reflects a limited-purpose arrangement rather than an ongoing shared business.