ABLawg

U of C and U of A Law Profs’ Submission to the Law Society of Alberta on Trinity Western University Law School

On January 29, 2014

In Ethics and the Legal Profession, Human Rights, Legal Education

By Jennifer Koshan, Jonnette Watson Hamilton and Alice Woolley

PDF Version: U of C and U of A Law Profs’ Submission to the Law Society of Alberta on Trinity Western University Law School

Commented on: Letter from members of the Faculties of Law at U of C and U of A to the Law Society of Alberta

On January 28, 2014, over 30 law professors and members of affiliated institutes and centres from the University of Calgary and University of Alberta submitted a letter to the president and president-elect of the Law Society of Alberta. The purpose of the letter was “to express our concerns on the decision making process taken to date for the approval of Trinity Western University School of Law’s program and the eligibility of TWU’s graduates to become students-at-law in Alberta.” Trinity Western University (TWU) received approval from the British Columbia government on December 18, 2013 to open a law school. The school is anticipated to commence operations with its first class of 60 law students in September 2015. TWU is a private, Christian university which requires its students and staff to abide by a Community Covenant Agreement (available here). It is in this context that these concerned legal academics submitted the following letter:

Canadian Law and Society Association Midwinter Conference

By Lyndsay Campbell

On January 23, 2014

In Conferences

By Lyndsay Campbell

PDF Version: Canadian Law and Society Association Midwinter Conference

Conference commented on: Canadian Law and Society Association Midwinter Meeting

I recently attended the midwinter meeting of the Canadian Law and Society Association in Toronto. This meeting combines a small academic conference with a board meeting, mid-way between our annual meetings. The program is available here.

The Limits to Summary Judgement in Oil and Gas Compensatory Royalty Cases

By Nigel Bankes

On January 22, 2014

In Oil & Gas

By Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: The Limits to Summary Judgement in Oil and Gas Compensatory Royalty Cases

Case commented on: Laird v Sword Energy Inc., 2014 ABQB 13.

This decision of Justice Don Manderscheid confirms that it will a rare case in which a lessor will be able to obtain summary judgement for a claim of compensatory royalties under an offset well clause under an oil and gas lease. As such it casts further doubt on the correctness of Justice Lee’s judgement in 1301905 Alberta Ltd v Sword Energy Ltd., 2013 ABQB 113, which was the subject of an earlier post here.

Arbitrators Have the Last Word on Procedural or Interlocutory Matters

By Jonnette Watson Hamilton

On January 21, 2014

In Arbitration

By Jonnette Watson Hamilton

PDF Version: Arbitrators Have the Last Word on Procedural or Interlocutory Matters

Case commented on: Suncor Energy Inc v Alberta, 2013 ABQB 728

Suncor Energy Inc v Alberta is a decision by Chief Justice Neil Wittmann on an appeal by the provincial Crown from an arbitration tribunal’s order on a procedural point. Suncor Energy Inc. began arbitration proceedings in January 2011 to resolve a dispute over royalties to be paid on the production of mined bitumen to the province. The issue before the Chief Justice was a narrow one, namely, whether the refusal of the arbitrators to refer a question of law to the court, concerning the application of section 50 of the Mines and Minerals Act, RSA 2000, c M-17, to the production of records that the Crown received from oil sands producers other than Suncor, was a decision that could be appealed. The Chief Justice decided that the court did not have jurisdiction to hear the Crown’s appeal under either section 17(9) or section 44 of Alberta’s domestic arbitration statute, the Arbitration Act, RSA 2000, c A-3. In doing so he confirmed that the competence-competence principle, which allows an arbitral tribunal to determine its own jurisdiction, underlies sections 17 and 44. While not as explicit on this point as was the recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Ontario Medical Association v Willis Canada Inc, 2013 ONCA 745 at paras 19-37, the Chief Justice’s decision gives effect to the statutory grant of authority to the arbitration tribunal to have the last word on procedural or interlocutory matters that arise during the course of arbitration.

The Curious Case of the Greater Sage Grouse in Alberta

By Shaun Fluker

On January 17, 2014

In Protection of Spaces, Protection of Species

By Shaun Fluker

PDF Version: The Curious Case of the Greater Sage Grouse in Alberta

Legislation commented on: Emergency Order for the Protection of the Greater Sage Grouse, PC 2013-2045

The Greater Sage Grouse is on the brink of disappearing from the Canadian landscape and, in doing so, is leaving its mark on the Species at Risk Act, SC 2002, c 29 (SARA). Readers may recall that the sage grouse recovery strategy prepared under SARA was the subject of dispute several years back over the extent to which critical habitat for a species listed as endangered or threatened must be identified in the strategy (See Nigel Bankes’ ABlawg post “Is SARA growing teeth?”). The sage grouse recovery strategy has recently been amended (2013) to include all known critical habitat – both mating sites and year-round habitat – in Canada and to identify threats to the sage grouse (see here). But since the overwhelming majority of sage grouse habitat falls on provincial lands in Alberta, SARA offers little real protection to the sage grouse here in the absence of an Order in Council from federal Cabinet directing that SARA apply to provincial lands. Cabinet issued an Emergency Protection Order under section 80 of SARA in December 2013 that, to my surprise, applies to Alberta lands and the Order comes into force on February 18, 2014. This comment discusses the significance of the Order, adding to existing commentary (see Martin Olszynski’s earlier ABlawg post here, Janice Walton of Blakes LLP here and Jason Unger of the Environmental Law Centre here).