ABLawg

ABlawg’s New Look

On June 1, 2015

Readers will notice that ABlawg has a new look this morning. After seven years with the header created by our first student coordinator, Brian Milne, we thought it was time for a change – call it the seven year itch. Our current student coordinator, Evelyn Tang, gets the credit for shifting us from the prairies to the mountains (Lake Louise to be exact), and has incorporated the University of Calgary crest and colours into our new header. We have also made it easier for readers to tweet posts. We hope you like the new look and features, and welcome your comments (and your tweets, Facebook likes, etc).

To subscribe to ABlawg by email or RSS feed, please go to https://ablawg.ca

The Supreme Court’s Latest Equality Rights Decision: An Emphasis on Arbitrariness

By Jennifer Koshan

On May 29, 2015

In Aboriginal, Constitutional

By: Jennifer Koshan and Jonnette Watson Hamilton

PDF Version: The Supreme Court’s Latest Equality Rights Decision: An Emphasis on Arbitrariness

Case Commented On: Kahkewistahaw First Nation v Taypotat, 2015 SCC 30 (CanLII)

The Supreme Court released its decision in Kahkewistahaw First Nation v Taypotat, 2015 SCC 30 yesterday. We commented on the Federal Court of Appeal decision in the case here. Taypotat was one of two appeals concerning adverse effects discrimination under section 15(1) of the Charter heard by the Supreme Court in October 2014, the other being Carter v Canada (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 5. The Supreme Court declined to rule on the section 15(1) issue in Carter (see here; see also the Court’s decision not to address section 15 in last week’s ruling in R v Kokopenace, 2015 SCC 28 (CanLII), a case involving the representativeness of juries for Aboriginal accused persons). However, the Court did not have the option of avoiding section 15 in Taypotat. In a unanimous judgment written by Justice Abella, the Court held that the adverse effects claim in Taypotat was not established by the evidence.

Section 27 of the Surface Rights Act and the Potential Fallout of Non-Compliance

By Fenner Stewart

On May 22, 2015

In Oil & Gas

By: Fenner Stewart

PDF Version: Section 27 of the Surface Rights Act and the Potential Fallout of Non-Compliance

Legislation Commented On: Surface Rights Act, RSA 2000, c S-24

Section 27 of Alberta’s Surface Rights Act obliges operators to notify landowners of the opportunity to renegotiate leases, but provides no enforcement measures for operator non-compliance. This post explores the potential fallout.

1. Introduction

Alberta’s Surface Rights Act helps to encourage the negotiation of surface leases between landowners and operators. Whether granting a producer the right of entry to drill for oil and gas or granting an energy company the right to place a pipeline or power transmission line across one’s property, many landowners would not allow such operators access to their land if the force of law did not compel the right of entry. In mining and drilling cases, the common law recognizes an implied right of entry in conjunction with the granting of mineral rights. In pipeline and transmission line cases, the Crown can exercise its power of expropriation to take private property for public use. In these situations, the legal authority for such rights of entry is not dependent on any power granted by the Surface Rights Act.

The primary purpose of the Surface Rights Act is to avoid litigation when an obstinate landowner rejects all reasonable offers for compensation in exchange for access to their property. When negotiations breakdown, the Surface Rights Board intervenes and establishes the terms, including compensation, of the surface lease. By offering an alternative to a privately negotiated lease, the Act promises to break deadlocks between lessor-landowners and lessee-operators resulting in expedited energy projects. Further, it is hoped that by providing an alternative to the more adversarial judicial system, more amicable relations between landowners and operators will develop even in less than ideal circumstances.

The Application of stare decisis in Administrative Decision-Making

By Shaun Fluker

On May 19, 2015

In Administrative Law

By: Shaun Fluker

PDF Version: The Application of stare decisis in Administrative Decision-Making

Case Commented On: Altus Group v Calgary (City), 2015 ABCA 86

In Altus Group v Calgary (City), 2015 ABCA 86, the Alberta Court of Appeal confronts the application of stare decisis to administrative tribunal decision-making. Some would say it is a truism that statutory decision-makers are not bound by precedent given the fact-intensive and policy-laden nature of their work, and that most tribunal members have little or no substantive legal training. Jurists of Diceyan thought have surely held this position and indeed typically point to the very absence of stare decisis in administrative law to bolster their suspicion of and disregard for statutory decision-making and to justify the need for intrusive judicial scrutiny. In modern times, a tribunal seeking to downplay arguments based on precedent might be expected to respond along the lines of “[w]hile our earlier decisions may be relevant and even persuasive in this case, we are not bound by these previous rulings.” But on the other hand, many administrative law practitioners have no doubt appeared before a tribunal who references its earlier decisions and the need for consistency to support a particular ruling. Perhaps all we can say for sure is that the application of stare decisis to administrative decision-making is a tricky business.

Assessing Canada’s Habitat/Fisheries Protection Regime: A Near Total Abdication of Responsibility?

By Martin Olszynski

On May 15, 2015

In Environmental, Fisheries Regulation

By: Martin Olszynski and Alex Grigg

PDF Version: Assessing Canada’s Habitat/Fisheries Protection Regime: A Near Total Abdication of Responsibility?

Legislation Commented On: Section 35 of the Fisheries Act, RSC 1985 c F-14, as amended by the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act SC 2012, c 19

Roughly three years ago (on June 29, 2012), Bill C-38, the omnibus budget bill also known as the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, received royal assent. As most ABlawg readers will surely know, Bill C-38 fundamentally changed some of Canada’s most important environmental laws. Among these were changes to the Fisheries Act and a new regime for the protection of fish habitat in particular. Section 35 of the Act, which used to prohibit any work or undertaking that resulted in the “harmful alteration or disruption, or the destruction” (HADD) of fish habitat, was amended to prohibit works, undertakings and activities that result in “serious harm to fish that are part of a commercial, recreational or Aboriginal fishery,” serious harm being defined as “the death of fish or any permanent alteration to, or destruction of, fish habitat” (DPAD). At the time of Bill C-38’s passage, this wording was widely panned as vague, confusing and bound to reduce the scope of protection for fish habitat (see here, here, here, here and our own professor emeritus Arlene Kwasniak here). This summer – and with a view towards a Fisheries Act panel at the Journal of Environmental Law and Practice’s 5^th conference in Kananaskis in June – we are conducting research to assess the merits of this new regime. This blog sets out our approach and some preliminary findings. Long story short, it appears that the federal government has all but abdicated its role in protecting fish habitat in Canada.