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Category: Constitutional Page 52 of 74

Random Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy Implicates Safety, Privacy, Human Rights and Civil Liberties

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On November 29, 2012

In Constitutional, Labour/Employment

PDF version: Random Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy Implicates Safety, Privacy, Human Rights and Civil Liberties

Case commented on: Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, Local 707 v Suncor Energy Inc. 2012 ABCA 307 (“CA”)

The issue of random drug and alcohol testing in the workplace has now reached national importance.  The Supreme Court of Canada recently granted leave to appeal in such a case.  See:  Communication, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 30, v Irving Pulp & Paper Ltd., 2011 NBCA, leave to appeal to Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) granted: 2012 CanLII 14844 (SCC), (“Irving”).  It is likely the SCC will hear this case in December 2012 (Jeff Gray, “Supreme Court to rule on random alcohol testing” The Globe and Mail 08 May 2012).  Alberta has a keen interest in the outcome of this case as it has its own pending cases.

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Leave to appeal granted in right to public transit case

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On November 22, 2012

In Constitutional, Criminal, Youth and the Law

PDF version: Leave to appeal granted in right to public transit case

Case commented on: R v S.A., 2012 ABCA 323

The S.A. case, which concerns the right to use public transit and the constitutionality of trespass legislation as applied to public property, has been the subject of two previous judicial decisions (here and here) and two previous ABlawg posts (here and here).  On November 7, 2012, Madam Justice Myra Bielby of the Alberta Court of Appeal granted S.A. to leave to appeal the Court of Queen’s Bench decision that overturned the trial decision finding a Charter violation in her favour.

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Some Much Needed R&R: Revisiting and Relaxing the Test for Public Interest Standing in Canada

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On October 18, 2012

In Constitutional, Intervenors and Standing

PDF version: Some Much Needed R&R: Revisiting and Relaxing the Test for Public Interest Standing in Canada

Case Considered: Canada (Attorney General) v Downtown Eastside Sex Workers Against Violence Society, 2012 SCC 45

On September 21, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada revisited the doctrine of public interest standing in Canada (Attorney General) v Downtown Eastside Sex Workers Against Violence Society, affirming the decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal to grant the Downtown Eastside Sex Workers Against Violence Society (the Society) public interest standing to challenge the prostitution provisions of the Criminal Code (ss 210 to 213).  We comment on this Supreme Court decision for its potential to revise how the doctrine of public interest standing is applied by Alberta courts going forward.

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Peter Lougheed’s Section 92A

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On September 27, 2012

In Constitutional, Oil & Gas

PDF version: Peter Lougheed’s Section 92A

Commenting on: the legacy of section 92A of the Constitution Act, 1982

“Exclusive” power of provincial legislatures to make laws for “exploration”; “development, conservation and management” of provincial non-renewable resources and forestry resources. Provinces can also regulate, (without price or supply discrimination) the export of these natural resources. This is the essence of section 92A of the Constitution Act 1982, a provision for which Peter Lougheed fought hard in the negotiations that led to patriation of the Canadian Constitution in 1982.

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Peter Lougheed and the Constitution, Notwithstanding

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On September 24, 2012

In Constitutional, Human Rights

PDF version: Peter Lougheed and the Constitution, Notwithstanding

Commenting on: The legacy of section 33 of the Charter

I am not a conservative, as anyone who knows me or reads Rate My Professor is already aware.  But notwithstanding my political stripes, I was a fan of Peter Lougheed.  My kids were charmed when they heard him read Christmas stories at the Lougheed House many years ago, and my daughter and I once met him at an opera at the Banff Centre – again, we were charmed.  More pertinent to the law, he was the premier who repealed Alberta’s sexual sterilization legislation (the Sexual Sterilization Repeal Act, 1972, SA 1972, c 87) and brought in our first human rights act (the Individual’s Rights Protection Act, SA 1972, c 2), showing a strong commitment to the protection of individual rights.  But it is one of his contributions to constitutional law that I will comment on in this post.

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