Author: Shaun Fluker Page 1 of 38

B.Comm. (Alberta), LL.B. (Victoria), LL.M. (Calgary).
Associate Professor.
Please click here for more information.

By: Shaun Fluker and JD students with the Public Interest Law Clinic

Legislation Commented On: Residential Tenancies Act, SA 2004, c R-17.1

PDF Version: Need for Law Reform: Residential Tenancies and Late Fees

The Public Interest Law Clinic has an ongoing law reform project file on residential tenancies. During the Fall 2024 and Winter 2025 semesters, the Clinic conducted legal research on fees payable for late payment of rent. The Alberta Law Reform Institute is undertaking a review of the Residential Tenancies Act, SA 2004, c R-17.1. The Clinic’s research confirms legislative amendments would help to clarify the enforceability of fees charged by a landlord for the late payment of rent.

Disaster in the Making: UCP Government Grabs Control of the Alberta Law Foundation’s Funding Decisions

By Shaun Fluker

On April 28, 2025

In Access to Justice

By: Shaun Fluker, Jonnette Watson Hamilton, and Nigel Bankes

Bill Commented On: Bill 39 Financial Statutes Amendment Act 2025 (31^st Leg, 1^st Session, second reading)

PDF Version: Disaster in the Making: UCP Government Grabs Control of the Alberta Law Foundation’s Funding Decisions

Mixed together with an omnibus financial bill in the current session of the Legislature, the UCP government proposes to threaten the independence of the Alberta Law Foundation (Foundation), and in doing so, the independence of the legal profession. The bill also jeopardizes the core funding that the Foundation has historically provided to support not-for-profit organizations that help the Foundation deliver on its mandate, including poverty law clinics and those involved in public legal education. The Minister of Finance introduced Bill 39: Financial Statutes Amendment Act 2025 for first reading in the Legislature on March 10 and the Bill is currently in second reading. Section 7 of Bill 39 proposes to amend the Legal Profession Act, RSA 2000, c L-8 to change the rules governing how the Foundation allocates funding grants by inserting a large measure of political control, and to require the Foundation to increase its funding contribution to Legal Aid Alberta. Consistent with amendments imposed on Legal Aid Alberta by the UCP government in 2024, the UCP government seeks to give the Minister of Justice control over the funding of access to justice programs. In response to these proposed amendments, two of the three board members appointed to the Foundation by the Alberta UCP government have resigned.

Anticipatory Obedience and Essential Infrastructure at the Alberta-US Border

By Shaun Fluker

On March 10, 2025

In Critical Infrastructure Defence Act, Terrorism and Security

By: Shaun Fluker

Legislation commented on: Order in Council 008/2025 (January 29, 2025) amending the Critical Infrastructure Defence Regulation, Alta Reg 169/2021

PDF Version: Anticipatory Obedience and Essential Infrastructure at the Alberta-US Border

The authoritarian and isolationist Trump administration has profoundly altered global relations. Democratic institutions are under attack in the United States, and it seems that the grand post-WWII global project called liberal democracy finally ran out of steam on November 5, 2024. If a new world order is emerging, Canada is on the front line. This is an uncomfortable position for us, not only because our socio-economic systems are so deeply integrated with the United States, but also because the world is watching how America’s closest ally responds to the chaos. The stakes are exceedingly high. Here in Alberta, the UCP cabinet initially responded to the Trump administration with what Timothy Synder calls ‘anticipatory obedience’ in his must-read book On Tyranny. Show a bully what they can extract from you, and they will take it. Plenty has been written about the Premier’s visit to Mar-a-Lago and Alberta’s initial reluctance to align with ‘Team Canada’, my focus here is on something that has not garnered as much attention: the Lieutenant Governor in Council designating all land within two kilometres of the US border as ‘essential infrastructure’. It is truly shocking how quickly the UCP cabinet gave away Alberta’s portion of the world’s longest undefended border, and created a quasi-military area now referred to as the red zone.

Grading the 2023 AER Liability Management Performance Report

By Shaun Fluker

On February 10, 2025

In Administrative Law, Energy

By: Drew Yewchuk, Shaun Fluker, and Martin Olszynski

Report Commented On: 2023 AER Liability Management Performance Report

PDF Version: Grading the 2023 AER Liability Management Performance Report

On December 5, 2024 the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) published the 2023 Liability Management Performance Report (2023 Report). This is the second AER Liability Management Performance Report to the public on progress to reduce Alberta’s massive unfunded closure liability in the conventional (non-oil sands) oil and gas sector. We gave the 2022 Liability Management Performance Report a failing grade here because it offered little in relation to understanding whether industry performance was adequate and almost nothing at all about the AER’s performance. We note with disappointment that the AER has apparently removed the 2022 Report from its website, since historical comparison is also a method of measuring performance. The 2023 Report receives a slight improvement to a D grade because of enhanced data transparency, but the AER continues to offer little in terms of measuring effectiveness and performance in the administration of liability management.

AER declines request for an Environmental Impact Assessment of the Pathways Project

By Shaun Fluker

On December 23, 2024

In Environmental

By: Nicole Achtymichuk and Shaun Fluker

Matter Commented On: Letter Decision by AER re: EIA of Pathways Alliance Carbon Capture and Storage Hub (25 October 2024)

PDF Version: AER declines request for an Environmental Impact Assessment of the Pathways Project

The Pathways Alliance Carbon Capture and Storage Hub (Pathways Project) is set to be one of the largest carbon capture and storage projects globally. In late October, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) decided that the Pathways Project would not be required to undergo a provincial environmental assessment under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, RSA 2000, c E-12 (EPEA). The AER’s decision highlights how Alberta’s largely discretionary approach to environmental assessments under EPEA, which has not been substantively updated since its enactment in 1993, is inadequate to properly and transparently assess the effects of new and emerging major technologies. This post argues that the legislation should be amended to require a transparent assessment for new forms of major projects with potentially significant environmental, social, economic, and cultural consequences. The undertaking of a comprehensive provincial impact assessment on major projects such as the Pathways Project would also help avoid an application of the federal impact assessment process under the Impact Assessment Act, SC 2019, c 28, s 1 (IAA) for projects wholly within the province.