ABLawg - - Page 234

By: Jonnette Watson Hamilton

PDF Version: A Cautionary Tale for Step-Parents and Step-Children

Case Commented On: Peters Estate (Re), 2015 ABQB 168 CanLII

People have many different ways of defining “family” and what being part of a family means to them. The idea that “a family is what you make it” or “families are who you love” is true enough when it comes to inheritance if you make a will. But the assumption that each of us can define family for ourselves is not true if we die without a will. If we die intestate (i.e., without a will), then the law will define our family for us — and the law’s categories are not flexible ones. They are not even twenty-first century categories. While the percentage of Canadian families who correspond to the nuclear-family model has declined, the laws of intestate succession still depend on that model. As a result, for those who die without a will, there is the possibility that the people they considered family will not inherit from them. The Peters Estate case is a cautionary tale about the need for wills or adoption in a modern world where “family” is a constantly changing concept.

Reflections on the Alberta Energy Regulator’s Best-In-Class Regulatory Initiative

By Fenner Stewart

On May 4, 2015

In Energy

By: Fenner Stewart

PDF Version: Reflections on the Alberta Energy Regulator’s Best-In-Class Regulatory Initiative

Initiative Commented On: Alberta Energy Regulator’s Best-In-Class Regulatory Initiative

The University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Program on Regulation (PennReg) has now completed its consultation of experts and stakeholders as part of its “Best-In-Class” Regulatory Initiative, which is funded by the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER). This post discusses the “Best-In-Class” Regulatory Initiative as well as one of PennReg’s three consultations, entitled the “Alberta Dialogue.”

Leave to Appeal granted in Ernst v Alberta Energy Regulator

By Jennifer Koshan

On April 30, 2015

In Constitutional, Energy

By: Jennifer Koshan

PDF Version: Leave to Appeal granted in Ernst v Alberta Energy Regulator

Case commented on: Ernst v Alberta Energy Regulator, 2013 ABQB 537, aff’d 2014 ABCA 285, leave to appeal granted April 30, 2015 (SCC)

Today the Supreme Court (Justices Abella, Karakatsanis and Côté) granted leave to appeal with costs in the cause to Jessica Ernst. The Court’s description of the case is as follows:

Charter of Rights – Constitutional law – Enforcement – Remedy – Freedom of expression – Statutory immunity clause held to preclude adjudication of individual’s action in damages for alleged Charter breach by the regulator – Can a general “protection from action” clause contained within legislation bar a Charter claim for a personal remedy made pursuant to s. 24(1) of the Charter – Can legislation constrain what is considered to be a “just and appropriate” remedy under s. 24(1) of the Charter – Vancouver (City) v. Ward, 2010 SCC 27, [2010] 2 S.C.R. 28.

The applicant owns land near Rosebud, Alberta. She brought an action against: i) EnCana Corporation for damage to her water well and the Rosebud aquifer allegedly caused by its construction, drilling, hydraulic fracturing and other activities in the area; ii) Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, claiming it owes her a duty to protect her water supply and had failed to address her complaints about EnCana; and iii) the respondent regulator, for “negligent administration of a regulatory regime” related to her claims against EnCana. She brought a further claim for damages against the regulator under s. 24(1) of the Charter for alleged breaches of her s. 2(b) Charter rights. She alleges that from November, 2005 to March 2007, the Board’s Compliance Branch refused to accept further communications from her through the usual channels for public communication until she agreed to raise her concerns only with the Board and not publicly through the media or through communications with other citizens. She submits the respondent infringed her s. 2(b) Charter rights both by restricting her communication with it and by using those restrictions to punish her for past public criticisms and prevent her making future public criticisms of the respondent.

The respondent brought an application to strike paragraphs from the Statement of Claim or grant summary judgment in its favour. The Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta granted the application and struck out the applicant’s negligence and Charter claims. While the Court held that the Charter claims were not doomed to fail and did disclose a cause of action, it held that the courts were precluded from considering the claims by the statutory immunity provision in the Energy Resources Conservation Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. E-10. The Alberta Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.

There have been several ABlawg posts on the Alberta courts’ earlier decisions in the Ernst litigation. The most relevant to the issue that is now going to the Supreme Court is my post The Charter Issue(s) in Ernst: Awaiting Another Day.

A Missing Issue in the 2015 Alberta Election: Curbing Carbon Emissions

By Shaun Fluker

On April 29, 2015

In Climate Change, Environmental

By: Shaun Fluker

PDF Version: A Missing Issue in the 2015 Alberta Election: Curbing Carbon Emissions

Legislation Commented On: Specified Gas Emitters Regulation, Alta Reg 139/2007

One might think that curbing carbon emissions would be a key topic during an election in the province which emits more carbon emissions than any other jurisdiction in Canada. Carbon emission is after all an inherently political topic these days both at home and abroad. However, the absence of debate on how Alberta should address carbon emissions is one of the more defining features of the 2015 Alberta election. This is particularly noteworthy because of Ontario’s recent announcement that it will join the carbon emissions cap-and-trade scheme operating in Quebec and California under the Western Climate Initiative. Premier Jim Prentice stated that Alberta (see here) will not join this regional scheme, and recent media commentary has expressed concern with this position (see here).

Solicitor-Client Issues and the Information and Privacy Commissioner

By Linda McKay-Panos

On April 28, 2015

In Administrative Law, Privacy

By: Linda McKay-Panos

PDF Version: Solicitor-Client Issues and the Information and Privacy Commissioner

Case Commented On: University of Calgary v JR, 2015 ABCA 118 (CanLII)

The Alberta Court of Appeal (per Justice Russell Brown, with Justices Myra Bielby and Patricia Rowbotham concurring) recently ruled that a delegate of the Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner did not have the statutory authority to issue a notice to the University of Calgary to produce documents so that the Commissioner could determine whether the University had properly claimed that the records were subject to solicitor-client-privilege. Further, the Commissioner did not have the statutory authority to compel the production of the records.

JR sued the University, alleging wrongful dismissal and other legal issues. During the litigation, when the parties exchanged affidavits of records, JR did not object to the University asserting solicitor-client-privilege for some of the documents. The litigation was resolved (see 2012 ABQB 342) and JR has had no involvement in the litigation since then (at para 3).