Author: Drew Yewchuk Page 18 of 19

B.A. (UAlberta) J.D. (UCalgary) LLM (U.B.C.) Drew was a full-time staff lawyer with the University of Calgary's Public Interest Law Clinic from 2018-2022. He is now an PhD student at the Peter A. Allard School of Law. His research focuses on administrative secrecy, access to information law, species at risk, resource law, and environmental liabilities.

By: Drew Yewchuk

PDF Version: Litigation Privilege, the Adversarial System, and the Search for Truth

Case Commented On: Waissmann v Calgary (City), 2018 ABQB 131 (CanLII)

Waissmann v Calgary (City) is a decision about occurrence reports produced by a Calgary transit bus driver following an accident on July 30, 2007 in which Mr. Waissmann was injured. Mr. Waissmann is suing the city and was seeking to compel the city to produce the occurrence reports. The city asserted litigation privilege over the occurrence reports. Master Robertson agreed with the city and determined the occurrence reports were subject to privilege and need not be produced (at para 44).

A Questionable Equity: Rectification and Tax Avoidance

By Drew Yewchuk

On December 18, 2017

In Contracts, Tax

By: Drew Yewchuk

PDF Version: A Questionable Equity: Rectification and Tax Avoidance

Case Commented On: Harvest Operations Corp. v Attorney General of Canada, 2017 ABCA 393 (CanLII)

Harvest Operations Corp. v Attorney General of Canada (Harvest Operations Corp. CA) is a case about an elaborate but unsuccessful tax avoidance maneuver and an attempt to get contract rectification. The details of the attempted tax avoidance are unreasonably complicated, and so I will focus on the facts necessary for the rectification issue (if you want to learn how to correctly perform the “bump transaction” method of avoiding capital gains tax, this post will not help you).

R v Cody: The Supreme Court Stands Their Ground on Unreasonable Delay

By Drew Yewchuk

On June 29, 2017

In Constitutional, Criminal, Supreme Court of Canada

By: Drew Yewchuk

PDF Version: R v Cody: The Supreme Court Stands Their Ground on Unreasonable Delay

Case Commented On: R v Cody, 2017 SCC 31 (CanLII)

Just a little under a year after the Supreme Court released R v Jordan, 2016 SCC 27 (CanLII) and established a new framework for the Charter section 11(b) right to a criminal trial within a reasonable time, the Court has released a new decision on the issue. (For my earlier post on Jordan, see here, and for a post discussing interpretation of Jordan by some Alberta courts see here.) R v Cody, 2017 SCC 31 (CanLII) clarifies the Jordan framework, but more importantly it affirms the Supreme Court’s commitment to ending the “culture of complacency towards delay in the criminal justice system” (at para 1) despite the pressure Jordan has placed on Crown prosecutors.

An Update on The Right to Trial Within a Reasonable Time

By Drew Yewchuk

On March 2, 2017

In Constitutional, Criminal

By: Drew Yewchuk

PDF Version: An Update on The Right to Trial Within a Reasonable Time

Cases Commented On: R v Lam, 2016 ABQB 489 (CanLII); R v Regan, 2016 ABQB 561 (CanLII); R v Lavoie, 2017 ABQB 66 (CanLII)

It has been about 8 months since the Supreme Court released R v Jordan, 2016 SCC 27 (CanLII) and overhauled how courts deal with applications under section 11(b) of the Charter, the right “to be tried within a reasonable time”. I described the new framework in an earlier post. In short, Jordan established presumptive ceilings for unreasonable delay (minus defence delays and exceptional circumstances) between charges being laid and the end of trial. The ceilings are 18 months for charges going to trial in provincial court and 30 months for charges going to superior court, subject to a flexible transitional approach for cases that were already in the system when Jordan was decided. Since the release of Jordan there have been 11 reported decisions in Alberta posted to CanLII for applications for stays under the new framework. This post discusses three of those decisions that addressed interesting aspects of the new framework.

The Appointment of Justice Rowe

By Drew Yewchuk

On October 26, 2016

In Supreme Court of Canada

By: Drew Yewchuk

PDF Version: The Appointment of Justice Rowe

Event Commented On: Nomination of the Honourable Malcolm Rowe for Appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada

On October 17, 2016 Prime Minister Trudeau nominated Justice Malcolm Rowe for appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada. Justice Rowe was a trial judge in Newfoundland and Labrador for two years before being appointed to the Court of Appeal of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2001.

The first section of this post describes the recent changes to the Supreme Court appointment process, as Justice Rowe is the first nomination under the new process. The second section of this post reviews Justice Rowe’s application for the position. The third discusses the public hearing, which I attended in Ottawa on 25 October 2016.