By: Martin Olszynski, Sharon Mascher, and Nigel Bankes
PDF Version: Top Ten Environmental Law Stories: Canadian Edition
This last year was an important one for environmental law and policy, both in Canada and globally. In this post we highlight ten of the most significant developments. Many of these figure among the usual suspects included in top-ten lists, but we’ve included some less obvious ones as well.
By: Evaristus Oshionebo
PDF Version: Analytical Framework for Oppression Remedy under the Business Corporations Act
Case Commented On: Patel v Chief Medical Supplies Ltd, 2015 ABQB 694
In Patel v Chief Medical Supplies Ltd., 2015 ABQB 694, the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta was confronted with the issue of oppression of the interest of minority shareholders under the Business Corporations Act, RSA 2000, c B-9 [ABCA]. The judgment raises a number of important jurisprudential questions including the analytical framework for the oppression provision in section 242 of the ABCA and the scope of the remedy for oppression under the ABCA. In the ensuing discussion, this writer offers his opinion on these issues and posits that, in determining whether there is oppression in any given instance, Alberta courts ought to adopt the analytical framework enunciated by the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) in BCE v 1976 Debentureholders [2008] 3 SCR 560 [BCE]. Doing so would enhance the development of the oppression remedy in Alberta.
By: Shaun Fluker
PDF Version: Habitat Protection for the Westslope Cutthroat Trout in Alberta
Matter Commented On: Critical Habitat of the Westslope Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi) Alberta Population Order, SOR/2014-241 (November 20, 2015)
On December 2, 2015, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada published a critical habitat protection order issued under sections 58(4) and (5) of the Species at Risk Act, SC 2002, c 29 (SARA) covering identified critical habitat for the westslope cutthroat trout located on Alberta public lands. Over the last 12 months the Faculty’s Environmental Law Clinic assisted the Alberta Wilderness Association and the Timberwolf Wilderness Society in their efforts to see this Order issued by the Minister. This comment revisits the process that ultimately led to this Order and describes the Order itself. At the outset it is worth noting this is only the second critical habitat protection order issued to date under sections 58(4) and (5) of SARA, and the first such order to be applied on provincial lands.
By: Nigel Bankes
PDF Version: Unpaid AFE Amounts Constitute Liquidated Demands With No Right of Set-Off Under the 1990 CAPL Operating Procedure
Case Commented On: Talisman Energy Inc v Questerre Energy Corporation, 2015 ABQB 775 (MC)
This decision of Master Prowse offers an interesting example of careful parsing of the pleadings, and the agreed and contested facts, with a view to identifying possible issues for which summary judgment may be granted – while leaving the factually contested issues for a later trial. As in SemCAMS ULC v Blaze Energy Ltd. 2015 ABQB 218, (and see my post on that decision here) contractual language deeming billings to be liquidated demands and the “no set-off” provisions commonly found in oil and gas and other commercial agreements were important elements in the decision.
By: Sharon Mascher
PDF Version: The “Historic” Paris Climate Agreement: What It Means “At Home” for Canada and the Alberta Oil Sands
Matter Commented On: Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
On Saturday December 12, 2015, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius declared consensus and gavelled the Paris Agreement. While far from perfect, the Agreement is being hailed by many around the world as historic (see for example here, here and here). Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is no exception, labeling the agreement “historic, ambitious and balanced” in a Statement issued following the conclusion of the Paris climate conference. The Statement goes on to say “[t]ogether with our international partners, we agreed to strengthen the global response to limit global average temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius as well as pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees”. This is indeed historic as, in so doing, the international community agreed for the first time to increase the level of ambition beyond the 2°C maximum that has prevailed to date (see COP 16 Decision 1/CP.16). There is now a clear commitment within the Paris Agreement to hold temperatures to well below 2°C, and a more aspirational target to pursue a limit of 1.5 °C.
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