Yesterday, I gave a talk to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Quebec Court of Appeal. I thought it would be interesting to speak to a topic that identifies unique features of the Quebec Court of Appeal’s thinking — perhaps even some spécificité québécoise — and that has contemporary resonance. What caught my eye is […] Read more

Regular readers will know that there are ongoing debates in Canada about the constitutional foundations of judicial review and, in particular, whether the Supreme Court’s decision in Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65, [2019] 4 SCR 653 means there is a core, irreducible minimum of judicial oversight that includes review […] Read more

In two cases this year, the Supreme Court of Canada revisited the scope of application of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In York Region District School Board v. Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, 2024 SCC 22, the Court held that the Charter applies to Ontario school boards. And in Dickson v. Vuntut Gwitchin First […] Read more

A few months ago I posted on a couple of recent appellate decisions on discriminatory bylaws (see here). My excellent doctoral student Paul-David Chouinard noted that the Quebec Court of Appeal has also weighed in on this issue twice recently, in Lauzon-Foresterie (Fiducie) c. Municipalité de L’Ange-Gardien, 2024 QCCA 506 and Procureur général du Québec […] Read more

For a forthcoming contribution to an edited collection on interdisciplinary work in law and political science, I was asked to prepare a comment on a (very good) chapter by Dennis Baker and David Said. Here is Part II, on areas for potential collaboration between administrative lawyers and political scientists. See Part I here. A recent […] Read more

Two recent Canadian cases have dealt with the reviewability of soft law instruments and, in both instances, the courts came out against judicial review. In Harold the Mortgage Closer Inc. v. Ontario (Financial Services Regulatory Authority, Chief Executive Officer), 2024 ONSC 4464, the applicants challenged guidance issued by the Authority. Under the guidance, the Authority […] Read more

For a forthcoming contribution to an edited collection on interdisciplinary work in law and political science, I was asked to prepare a comment on a (very good) chapter by Dennis Baker and David Said. Here is Part I, on the divide between administrative lawyers and political scientists. In their contribution to this collection, Baker and […] Read more

In a pair of cases decided this summer, the Supreme Court of Canada addressed the division of jurisdiction between Canada’s tax court and federal courts. In both Dow Chemical Canada ULC v. Canada, 2024 SCC 23 and Iris Technologies Inc. v. Canada, 2024 SCC 24, the Court had to determine the appropriate venue for judicial […] Read more

As is well known, the appendix is a useless body part*. In Kolner v Alberta (Director of SafeRoads), 2024 ABKB 456, Bokenfohr J had to consider the legal utility of an appendix. It turns out that an appendix fares no better in administrative law than it does in the popular imagination. I have noted in […] Read more

A favoured tool of contemporary legislatures and regulators is the administrative monetary penalty. Rather than imposing criminal liability on regulated entities for breaches of industry standards, legislatures have regularly chosen to empower regulators to impose fines — often substantial — on offenders. These administrative monetary penalties have become an important part of the modern regulatory […] Read more