Unreasonable Delay and Environmental Prosecutions October 03, 2016 Julie Abouchar and Anand Srivastava The right to be tried within a reasonable time is a constitutionally protected right under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The SCC recently set an upper limit of 18 months as the presumed ceiling for a reasonable time to trial.
Four Recent Decisions Raise Concern About Parity in Sentencing October 03, 2016 Jack Coop Jack compares recent approaches to sentencing under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Environmental Protection Act.
Former Counsel Escapes Damages Award When New Counsel Fails to Start Claim on Time October 03, 2016 Paula Boutis Paula summarizes the recent Superior Court decision in Dobara Properties Limited et al. v. Arnone et al., 2016 ONSC 3599 in which self-represented plaintiffs were able to recover remediation costs from their former litigation counsel who missed a limitation period to recover same from the plaintiffs' former real estate counsel.
Federal Administrative Monetary Penalty Scheme for Environmental Offences Released for Comment May 11, 2016 Paula Boutis Paula summarizes the federal government's recently released draft regulations for the Environmental Violations Administrative Monetary Penalties Act.
Case Law Update: GFO v Ontario (Environment and Climate Change), 2016 ONCA 283 May 11, 2016 Julia Schatz The authors comment on the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision, released on April 20, 2016, upholding Ontario's regulation of the purchase and sale of neonicotinoid pesticides (Ontario Regulation 139/15).
No Fault Orders and the Potential Liability of Realtors April 28, 2016 John Tidball Realtors beware of potential MOECC clean-up orders. John discusses the situation that lead to the Environmental Review Tribunal's April 14, 2016 decision in McQuiston v. Ontario (MOECC) (ERT Case Nos. 15-09 through 15-024).
Court of Appeal Upholds EA for Darlington Refurbishment April 26, 2016 Stanley Berger Stan reports on the Federal Court of Appeal's decision in Greenpeace Canada et al., v. Attorney General of Canada and Ontario Power Generation Inc., 2016 FCA 114 which was released on April 13, 2016.
Keeping with the Environmental Law Times: Lessons to be learned from Manitoba's Bill 20 - the Environmental Rights Act April 14, 2016 Kaitlyn Mitchell and John Swaigen The authors argue for a review and potential update to Ontario's Environmental Bill of Rights, 1993.
Statutory "Polluter Pay" Liability in British Columbia – The Perils of Pre-EMA Activity March 08, 2016 Lynn Mitchell Lynn comments on the 2015 British Columbia Court of Appeal decision in J.I. Properties Inv. v. PPG Coating Canada Ltd., 2015 BCCA 472, that upheld a $4.7 million award of statutory remediation costs against the former owner of a site who had previously remediated the site to the satisfaction of B.C. environmental regulators in the mid-1980s.
Province Releases Excess Soil Management Policy Framework March 08, 2016 Laura Bowman, a staff lawyer at Ecojustice. Laura comments on the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change's posting of an Excess Soil Management Policy Framework (“proposed framework”) that proposes a path forward and guiding principles for the development of policy related to the management of excess soil. Comments on the proposed framework may be submitted on the Environmental Registry up until March 26, 2016.