Bill 2 and its implications for the jurisdiction of the Environmental Appeal Board

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Proposal commented on: Bill 2, the Responsible Energy Development Act

This post examines the implications of Bill 2 for the jurisdiction of the Environmental Appeal Board (EAB).  The legislation will establish the new Alberta Energy Regulator (the Regulator) and will abolish appeals to the EAB with respect to decisions in relation to energy resource activities.  Instead, the Bill proposes a scheme of reviews by the Regulator of its own decisions.

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Bill 2 Responsible Energy Development Act: Setting the stage for the next 50 years of effective and efficient energy resource regulation and development in Alberta

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Bill commented on: Bill 2, Responsible Energy Development Act, The Legislative Assembly of Alberta, First Session, 28th Legislature

In the afternoon of Wednesday October 24, 2012 the Alberta government introduced Bill 2 – the proposed Responsible Energy Development Act (Alberta) – and the bill passed first reading.  In the words of the Minister of Finance, speaking in place of the Minister of Energy:

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Announcement: Bill 2, the Responsible Energy Development Act

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ABlawg is pleased to announce a series of posts on Bill 2, the Responsible Energy Development Act. This important Bill proposes to create a “single window” for reviewing and approving energy projects in Alberta.

The first in the series is a post by Shaun Fluker on the independence of the Alberta Energy Regulator.  This post will be followed by followed by posts dealing with a number of topics that we expect will include:  the implications of the Bill for the jurisdiction of the Environmental Appeal Board; an overview of the Bill; the standing rules under the Bill; the proposed arrangements for the enforcement of private surface arrangements; the Regulator as a corporation; the Regulator and the duty to consult; the power of the Minister to issue directions to the Regulator; a comparative take on the single window experience looking at developments in Australia; and water management under the Bill.

ABlawg has already posted two blogs on the background to this Bill, one by Nigel Bankes, “A single window for the permitting of energy projects in Alberta: who will look out for the chickens?”and the other by Nickie Vlavianos, “The Proposed Single Energy Regulator: Where Are We Now and Where Do We Go from Here?”

Court of Appeal approves decision concluding that water rights did not pass with a transfer of land

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Cases Considered: Canada Finance Corporation Limited v Hirsche Herefords, 2012 ABCA 315

The Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal from a decision of Justice Strekaf in which she had approved the sale by the receiver of a water right separate from the sale of lands to which the water right was appurtenant.  In an earlier ABlawg post I commented on Justice Strekaf’s decision (here).

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Empty Voting

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Cases Considered: TELUS Corporation v Mason Capital Management LLC, 2012 BCCA 403  and Mason Capital Management LLC v TELUS Corporation, 2012 BCSC 1582

 The most talked about Canadian corporate legal decision this year has been a British Columbia Supreme Court judgment in relation to TELUS’ attempt to convert a class of non-voting shares into voting shares.  It was not even the ruling that had everyone talking, but several paragraphs of obiter near the end of the decision.  The obiter concerned the phenomenon of “empty voting” and it was deemed sufficiently newsworthy to be reported in the national newspapers and discussed in legal blogs and articles on both sides of the border.

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