Samantha Jones entered into a contract with Jason Black to act as a contractor for a new house she is having built in Calgary. She was anxious to have the house built as soon as possible, and upon receiving Jason’s estimate that the work, including labour and materials, will cost $250 000, she immediately paid a $50 000 deposit. However, since receiving Samantha’s deposit, Jason has been contacted by a developer who is willing to pay him a significant amount more to work on a new housing development, provided that he begin immediately. Jason does some calculations based on the current market. He decides that the amount the developer is offering is enough that he can afford to return the deposit and compensate Samantha for breaching the original contract, and still come out ahead on the development contract. He lets Samantha know that she will have to find a new contractor, and begins work on the housing development. When he calls Samantha a few months later to offer her compensation, she informs him that she has finally been able to hire a new contractor, but that the estimate for the work has now doubled. In the intervening months, the costs of labour and materials have skyrocketed. The house that originally would have cost $250 000 will now cost her $500 000. Do you think that Jason should be responsible for the additional costs of building Samantha’s house, even though they very much exceed his original estimates?