ABLawg

Matter Commented On: AUC Decision 30732-D01-2026, Synapse Real Estate Corp., Synapse Data Center Power Plant Project, August 17, 2026

PDF Version: What Can We Learn From A Failed Synapse Or Two?

On August 17, 2026, a panel of commissioners of the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) rejected, in trenchant terms, an application from Synapse Real Estate Corp (Synapse) to construct and operate a 1,400?megawatt (MW) combined-cycle natural gas-fired power plant together with massive amounts of backup diesel generation (1,800 MW) (together, the power facilities). The power facilities were to be located within the town of Olds and co-located with a large-scale data centre. The power plant was intended to provide electricity exclusively to the data centre and not be connected to the Alberta Interconnected Electric System (the grid). While the generation and data centre were clearly intended to be functionally integrated, the AUC has no jurisdiction over data centres. The AUC’s jurisdiction is confined to new power facilities under the terms of the Hydro and Electric Energy Act, RSA 2000, c H-16 (HEEA), specifically ss 11 and 19, as supplemented by s 17 of the Alberta Utilities Commission Act, SA 2007, c A-37.2 (AUCA). Section 17 of the AUCA is crucial insofar as it confirmed that a principal criterion for approval is that the project be in the public interest.

Federal Court Finds Environment for Inmates at Edmonton Institution for Women not Safe and Healthful Due to Extreme Indoor Temperatures

By Amy Matychuk

On August 11, 2026

In Human Rights, Prison Law

By: Amy Matychuk

Case Commented On: Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies v Canada (Attorney General), 2026 FC 958 (CanLII)

PDF Version: Federal Court Finds Environment for Inmates at Edmonton Institution for Women not Safe and Healthful Due to Extreme Indoor Temperatures

On July 16, 2026, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) must keep records of temperatures in inmate-occupied areas at the Secure (Maximum) Unit of the Edmonton Institution for Women (EIFW) and must seek authorization to install air conditioning in those same areas. The decision was released in the middle of a hot and smoky summer, during which CSC has come under fire for extremely hot living conditions for federal prison inmates. While excessive hot and cold temperatures are certainly not a new issue for CSC facilities, the Federal Court’s specific order that EIFW must track temperatures in inmate living spaces in the EIFW Secure Unit represents an important development for prison justice advocates, who may now have access to information corroborating their clients’ longstanding claims about unliveable temperatures in federal prisons. Further, CSC can no longer rely on a blanket prohibition against installing air conditioning in inmate living areas, a small step toward more livable conditions for inmates.

Democracy Watch and its Implications for the Practice of Channeling Limited Judicial Supervision to Appellate Courts

By Nigel Bankes

On August 10, 2026

In Administrative Law, Appellate Practice, Law Reform, Supreme Court of Canada

By: Nigel Bankes

Matter Commented On: Democracy Watch v Canada (Attorney General), 2026 SCC 28 (CanLII)

PDF Version: Democracy Watch and its Implications for the Practice of Channeling Limited Judicial Supervision to Appellate Courts

This post assesses the implications of the Supreme Court’s unanimous and important decision in Democracy Watch for those many scenarios in which a provincial legislature channels some part, but only some part, of the judicial supervision of a regulatory tribunal to the province’s appellate courts. The drafting technique, at least in Alberta, is quite consistent. Step one, make provision for an appeal of a decision of a regulator to the Court of Appeal with a short limitation period; step two, confine that appeal to points of law or jurisdiction (i.e. no appeal on findings of fact or mixed findings of law and fact); step three, stipulate that the appeal is not as of right, but is subject to a leave or permission to appeal application; step four, confirm, by way of a broadly drafted privative clause, that the usual avenues for judicial review in the Court of King’s Bench are foreclosed.

How an Underscore Sent an Innocent Man to Jail

By Gideon Christian

On August 4, 2026

In Criminal, Evidence

By: Gideon Christian

Decisions commented on: R v Klayme, 2024 NSPC 4 (CanLII) and R v Klayme, 2026 NSCA 59 (CanLII)

PDF Version: How an Underscore Sent an Innocent Man to Jail

It all began when a mother in Wisconsin, United States, checked her 12-year-old daughter’s phone. What she discovered was horrifying: intimate images and sexually explicit communications with a man who called himself “Jay.” She reported the matter to the police, who seized the phone and extracted 125 messages exchanged through a Kik (social media) messaging account bearing the username fus__ro_dah, with two underscores between “fus” and “ro.”

The Orphan Well Association Annual Report 2025/2026: The Problem with the AER’s Long Run Plan for Orphan Oil and Gas Sites

By Drew Yewchuk

On July 30, 2026

In Energy, Oil & Gas

By: Drew Yewchuk

Matter Commented On: Orphan Well Association Annual Report 2025/2026

PDF Version: The Orphan Well Association Annual Report 2025/2026: The Problem with the AER’s Long Run Plan for Orphan Oil and Gas Sites

On July 15, 2026, the Orphan Well Association (OWA) released their annual report for 2025/2026. OWA annual reports provide insight into Alberta’s orphan oil and gas site problem and the pace at which the problem is being addressed (see the ABLawg posts on past OWA annual reports: 2022/2023; 2023/2024; 2024/2025). The OWA annual report is separate from the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER)’s annual liability management performance reports, which are concerned with the closure liability of oil and gas sites generally in Alberta, most of which still have operating licensees.