Author Archives: Drew Yewchuk

About Drew Yewchuk

B.A. (University of Alberta) J.D. (University of Calgary). Drew was formerly a staff lawyer with the University of Calgary's Public Interest Law Clinic from 2018-2022 and is now an LLM student at the Peter A. Allard School of Law.

When Are the COVID-19 Related Changes and Suspensions to Albertan Law Scheduled to End?

By: Drew Yewchuk

PDF Version: When Are the COVID-19 Related Changes and Suspensions to Albertan Law Scheduled to End?

Decision Commented On: COVID-19 orders and legislation

A recurring theme of recent ABlawg posts is the difficulty in determining what legal authority is being used to make emergency-based changes to Alberta law due to COVID-19, and precisely what the changes are. This post is a variation on that theme, setting out the end dates set for a selection of COVID-19 related legal changes, and discussing how the end dates should be re-thought soon. Continue reading →

Governance and Accountability: Preconditions for Committing Public Funds to Orphan Wells and Facilities and Inactive Wells

By: Nigel Bankes, Shaun Fluker, Martin Olszynski and Drew Yewchuk

PDF Version: Governance and Accountability: Preconditions for Committing Public Funds to Orphan Wells and Facilities and Inactive Wells

Announcement commented on: Department of Finance Canada, Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan: New Support to Protect Canadian Jobs, April 17, 2020

As any resident of this province knows, the Alberta oil and gas sector’s problem of underfunded environmental liabilities has been growing for decades. On April 17, 2020, in response to the impact of both the COVID-19 pandemic and the Saudi/Russian price war, the federal government announced an injection of $1.7 billion of public funds to support the ‘clean up’ of inactive and orphan wells in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. With respect to Alberta, $200 million will go to the Orphan Well Association as a loan to deal with orphan wells (i.e. wells that have no owner) while $1 billion will go to the Government of Alberta to deal with inactive wells (i.e. wells that are not producing but have not been properly closed and remediated).

The first part of this post examines the background to the Orphan Well Association and how it has moved from being an industry funded organization to the recipient of significant public funds. We suggest that this change in the source of funding is likely permanent and thus demands a complete rewrite of the governance structure for orphan wells in the interests of transparency and accountability. The second part of this post offers comments on the proposed program for inactive wells. This part of the post is shorter and more speculative because the announcement is remarkably vague and lacking in important details on this part of the program. Continue reading →

When Solicitor-Client Privilege Protects the Government from You

By: Drew Yewchuk

PDF Version: When Solicitor-Client Privilege Protects the Government from You

Decision Commented On: Edmonton Police Service v Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner), 2020 ABQB 207

Edmonton Police Service v Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner), 2020 ABQB 207 (EPS v IPC) is a decision on judicial review of Order F2018-36 (Re), made by an adjudicator at the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC). The decision addresses the “Privileged Information” exemption from disclosure found in section 27 of Alberta’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, RSA 2000 C-F-25 (FOIP). This post discusses the background to the decision and offers some commentary on the broader freedom of information implications of the decision. Continue reading →

Freedom of Information in Alberta: The Troubles With the OIPC

By: Drew Yewchuk

PDF Version: Freedom of Information in Alberta: The Troubles With the OIPC

Decision Commented On: Re Alberta Health, F2019-16, 2019 CanLII 33710

This is the third in a series of posts on Alberta’s access to information legislation, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, RSA 2000, c F-25 (FOIP Act). The first post set out the basic structure of the access to information, and the second post was a case study on the use of the FOIP Act. This post focuses on the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC), which serves as the initial dispute resolution mechanism for FOIP issues. The post also describes how the “adequate alternative remedy principle” can make troubled administrative review bodies into obstacles to effective oversight. Continue reading →

The 2018/2019 Year in Access to Justice Issues on ABlawg

By: Drew Yewchuk

PDF Version: The 2018/2019 Year in Access to Justice Issues on ABlawg

The Canadian Bar Association’s Access to Justice Week in Alberta runs from September 28-October 5, 2019. This annual event is meant to highlight the ongoing inequality in access to legal services and legal dispute resolution mechanisms in Canada. Many Canadians are unable to protect their rights and interests in our legal system. This means those on the lower economic rungs are subject to the law but rarely protected by it – a black mark on the rule of law in Canada. The full list of events can be accessed at the website here.

This is a summary of ABlawg posts dealing with access to justice issues from September 2018 to September 2019. These posts covered important issues on access to justice issues, and I start by following up on the four indicator issues discussed in my post from last year. Continue reading →