Royalty Certainty for the Oil and Gas Industry?

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Legislation Commented On: Alberta Bill 12: Royalty Guarantee Act

On June 20, 2019 Alberta’s Legislature gave first reading to Bill 12, The Royalty Guarantee Act. The Bill aims to fulfil a commitment made as part of the United Conservative Party’s (UCP) election platform:

Royalty Guarantee

Recent Alberta governments shook investor confidence with royalty reviews. A United Conservative government will guarantee in law that the royalty regime in place when a well is permitted will remain in place for that project in perpetuity. (at 30)

In the press release accompanying introduction of the Bill, Minister Sonya Savage reiterated the concerns that led to its introduction:

Frequent royalty reviews have had a significant negative impact on the energy industry and our province’s ability to compete with other energy jurisdictions. Alberta has competitive royalty rates and investors need certainty when making long-term decisions that the rates will not change on a whim. This legislation would provide the guarantee that stability isn’t just something we talk about in Alberta, it is the law.

This post examines the current rules in relation to changes in Crown royalties and then considers the scope and effect of Bill 12. Continue reading →

As Bill C-69 Receives Royal Assent, Will the Project List Deliver on the Promise?

By: Sharon Mascher

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Matter Commented On: Discussion Paper on the Proposed Project List

Last week, Bill C-69 finally passed through the Senate and received Royal Assent. That the legislative process has been long and fraught goes without saying. On its first passage through the Senate, a total of 229 amendments were made to the legislation. While 130 of those amendments were ultimately rejected, Bill C-69 incorporates 99 of them – 62 as proposed by the Senate and 37 with government alterations. This reportedly is “the highest number of amendments on any piece of legislation since at least 1946.” Continue reading →

The Implications of the AUC’s Smith Decision

By: Nigel Bankes

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Decisions commented on: AUC Decision 23756-DOI-2019, Advantage Oil and Gas Ltd. Glacier Power Plant Alteration, April 26, 2019; and AUC Decision 24393-D01-2019, International Paper Canada Pulp Holdings ULC Request for Permanent Connection for 48-Megawatt Power Plant, June 6, 2019.

In its Smith decision earlier this year, the AUC concluded that a self-generator could only avoid the general must offer, must exchange obligations imposed by the Electric Utilities Act, SA 2003, c E-5.1, (EUA; and regulations) and the Hydro and Electric Energy Act, RSA 2000, c H-16,(HEEA) if it fell within one of the prescribed exceptions in the legislative scheme. ABlawg commented on the Smith decision here: Opening a Can of Worms.

In these decisions, two AUC panels have confirmed the Smith decision, and in doing so further explore the implications of Smith for both new generation and for existing generation. Continue reading →

How to Interpret a Will, or “Motorcycles make a House a Home”

By: Jonnette Watson Hamilton

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Case Commented On: Hicklin Estate v Hicklin, 2019 ABCA 136 (CanLII)

Hicklin Estate is a judgment interpreting one word in a will – the word “home.” It is also a judgment with 138 paragraphs and 90 footnotes saying, in the end, that the chambers judge committed no palpable or overriding error in using extrinsic evidence to broadly interpret “home” to include the contents of the house and the garage. Not only was the sole issue a relatively narrow one, but the applicable law appears to be uncontroversial. It does not seem to be a case that calls for any more elaboration of the law than that given it by the lower courtin what the Court of Appeal called a “careful review” of the jurisprudence (at para 40). Nevertheless, lawyers seem to love this lengthy Court of Appeal judgment, applauding its “interesting hypotheticals (which heavily feature vintage Rolls-Royce automobiles)” and calling it a “delight to read, for it is an erudite and learned disquisition” and “a model of stylistic clarity.” However, the stylistic clarity seems to have distracted readers’ attention from problems with the substance of the judgment. Continue reading →

Taking Youth Seriously: Reconsidering the Constitutionality of the Voting Age

By: Colin Feasby

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Case Commented On: Frank v Canada (Attorney General), 2019 SCC 1

[N]o one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs its lifeline… (Kofi Annan, 1998)

Introduction

Earlier this year the Supreme Court of Canada issued its most important voting rights case in many years, Frank v Canada (Attorney General), 2019 SCC 1. Frank secured the right to vote for expatriate Canadians – a meaningful achievement – but the case is more significant for its reasoning and implications for the future of voting rights than it is for its result. The majority in Frank made it clear that the right to vote is qualified only by citizenship and that any limits on the right to vote must be justified under s 1 of the Charter. Frank has laid the foundation for a challenge to the last significant restriction on the right to vote, age. A challenge to the voting age – even just to lower it to 16 – promises to have a profound and beneficial impact on Canadian politics and political discourse. Continue reading →