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Category: Rule of Law

Former Minister of Justice Attempted to Interfere with the Administration of Justice: Kent Report

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On February 28, 2022

In Rule of Law

By: Shaun Fluker, Nigel Bankes & Martin Olszynski

PDF Version: Former Minister of Justice Attempted to Interfere with the Administration of Justice: Kent Report

Matter Commented On: The Kent Report (February 15, 2022)

On February 25, the Premier issued a brief statement announcing that former Minister of Justice, Kaycee Madu, was being shifted to Minister of Labour and Immigration, and that the former Minister of Labour and Immigration, Tyler Shandro, is now the Minister of Justice. This Friday afternoon swap was in response to the findings of retired Justice Adèle Kent in her investigation into a phone call made by Minister Madu to the Edmonton Chief of Police on the morning of March 10, 2021, concerning a traffic ticket issued to him that very same morning. As we discuss at the end of this post, this investigation seemingly only occurred because CBC news reporter Elise Von Sheel revealed the making of the call in a news story published on January 17, 2022. Several hours after the CBC broke the news, Premier Kenney announced on Twitter that Minister Madu was temporarily stepping aside from his ministerial duties while an independent investigation reviewed whether the call amounted to an interference with the administration of justice. The Kent Report concludes that the call (1) was an attempt to interfere with the administration of justice and (2) created a reasonable perception of an interference with the administration of justice. In this post, we summarize and comment on the findings of the Kent Report.

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Alberta Adds Health Care Facilities to the Scope of Anti-Protest Legislation

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On October 1, 2021

In Protest, Rule of Law

By: Shaun Fluker

PDF Version: Alberta Adds Health Care Facilities to the Scope of Anti-Protest Legislation

Legislation Commented On: Critical Infrastructure Defence Regulation, AR 169/2021

On September 29, 2021, and on the basis of authority granted under section 5 of the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act, SA 2020, c C-32.7, the Lieutenant Governor in Council issued Order in Council 265/2021 to enact the Critical Infrastructure Defence Regulation. This Regulation adds prescribed health care facilities – including hospitals – to the list of essential infrastructure covered by the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act, which thereby applies the prohibitions in the Act to those facilities. The Premier announced this new regulatory measure on September 28 as a response to anti-vaccine protests held recently at health care facilities. The timing of this announcement and the subsequent enactment of the Regulation was ideal for using it as a discussion item with 1Ls in Law 403 – Legislation – to illustrate how regulations are enacted and come into force. This short comment is intended to share that analysis with ABlawg readers.

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Some Comments on Bill 24, the COVID-19 Pandemic Response Statutes Amendment Act, 2020

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On July 10, 2020

In Administrative Law, COVID-19, Rule of Law

By: Shaun Fluker

 PDF Version: Some Comments on Bill 24, the COVID-19 Pandemic Response Statutes Amendment Act, 2020

Legislation Commented On: Bill 24, the COVID-19 Pandemic Response Statutes Amendment Act, 2020, 2nd Sess, 30th Leg, Alberta, 2020

Lawmaking by the Alberta government in response to COVID-19 has been somewhat disorganized and very non-transparent. As well, Alberta seems to be the only Canadian jurisdiction which seized on the public health emergency as an opportunity to double-down on Henry VIII lawmaking by the Executive. These are troubling observations in a political system where the legitimacy of governance is based upon an open, accountable, and predictable legislative process. The need to act swiftly and flatten the curve of COVID-19 certainly justified some deviation from the lawmaking norm in a representative democracy, but Alberta has relied extra heavily on executive and delegated legislative authority in its COVID-19 lawmaking. Accordingly, it would have been reasonable to expect the Legislature to restore some normalcy to lawmaking when the state of public emergency ended in Alberta on June 15.

On June 18, the Minister of Health introduced Bill 24, the COVID-19 Pandemic Response Statutes Amendment Act, 2020 into the Legislature, and most of the Act came into force on June 26 with royal assent. As the Legislature’s first comprehensive post-emergency response to COVID-19, as opposed to subject-specific legislation or the lawmaking thus far enacted by the Executive and its delegates, it is disappointing to observe how little this statute offers. However, on its first reading the Minister of Health did at least promise a forthcoming comprehensive review of the Public Health Act, RSA 2000, c P-37, and Bill 24 requires this to commence no later than August 1.

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The Rule of Law in Canada 150 Years After Confederation: Re-Imagining the Rule of Law and Recognizing Indigenous Peoples as Founders of Canada

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On March 29, 2017

In Aboriginal, Rule of Law

By: Kathleen Mahoney

PDF Version: The Rule of Law in Canada 150 Years After Confederation: Re-Imagining the Rule of Law and Recognizing Indigenous Peoples as Founders of Canada

The 150th anniversary of Confederation is upon us. The starting point for nation-wide celebrations will be Canada’s origin story, namely, that we are a nation founded by 2 peoples, the British and the French. Their concept of a nation, British North America Act, is held up as a monumental achievement forming the constitutional bedrock of our Canadian identity as well as the foundation for the rule of law and the free and democratic nation we believe ourselves to be.

But here’s the problem: our origin story is incomplete and misleading. In 1996, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples wrote, “A country cannot be built on a living lie.” (Vol II, at 1) My argument is that Canada’s origin story must be corrected through legislation that will recognize Canada as a country of three founding peoples, the British, the French, and the Indigenous. The rule of law is at the very root of Confederation but its application to indigenous peoples for the past 150 years has been dysfunctional, mired in racism and inequality. It must be re-imagined.

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The Social Licence to Operate: Mind the Gap

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On June 24, 2015

In Energy, Environmental, Rule of Law

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: The Social Licence to Operate: Mind the Gap

This post is based on an invited presentation that I gave at the Canadian Energy Law Forum on May 14, 2015 in Lake Louise. I began my remarks by looking at the three elements of the social licence to operate and then offered a summary of a lecture given by Rowland Harrison at the University of Alberta on March 10, 2015 from his position as the TransCanada Chair in Administrative and Regulatory Law, entitled “Social Licence to Operate: The Good, the Bad and the Ominous.” Mr. Harrison is a former member of the National Energy Board. I concluded my remarks by reflecting on four issues: (1) the normative context for thinking about the social licence to operate, (2) why it is that industry itself uses the term “social licence to operate”, (3) the need to narrow the gap between the legal licence and the idea of the social licence, and (4) the implications of allowing the social licence to operate as a veto.

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