The topic for the 2023 edition of the Administrative Law & Governance Colloquium was “The Legitimacy of the State”: The legitimacy of contemporary liberal democratic states is in a state of flux. Managing the effects of globalization, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and fighting escalating inflation have prompted serious questions about public administration in the […] Read more
Defining the Duty of Candour The duty of candour requires parties to judicial review applications, especially government respondents, to “to make full and fair disclosure”.[1] They must “explain fully what has occurred and why”.[2] The duty has been recognized by the English courts[3] and by courts in other jurisdictions, such as New Zealand,[4] Ireland[5] and […] Read more
Probably the hottest topic in the world of Canadian regulation in recent months has been the proposed merger between two telecommunications behemoths, Rogers and Shaw, with the former essentially to absorb the latter. In extensive reasons published on New Year’s Eve, the Competition Tribunal found that the merger could go ahead: Canada (Commissioner of Competition) […] Read more
I recently speculated about the scope of the new correctness category recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada in Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v. Entertainment Software Association, 2022 SCC 30. At today’s Supreme Court of Canada hearing in Mason (see my post here: I was co-counsel for one of the […] Read more
In a pair of decisions this week the Alberta Court of Appeal has tackled the question of the framework for judicial review of regulations: Auer v. Auer, 2022 ABCA 375 and TransAlta Generation Partnership v. Alberta (Minister of Municipal Affairs), 2022 ABCA 381. In both instances — Governor-in-Council regulations on support payments in Auer, ministerial […] Read more
Next week the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the appeal in the Mason case. The principal issue is the interpretation of s. 34(1)(e) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Under s. 34, a permanent resident or foreign national is inadmissible to Canada “on security grounds” for, amongst other things, “engaging in acts of […] Read more
Justice Stratas and I will be presenting at the Ontario Bar Association’s Annual Update On Judicial Review tomorrow (registration for the webcast is here). Here is the bill of fare: The Supreme Court: Undue Delay, International Law and the Standard of Review Law Society of Saskatchewan v. Abrametz, 2022 SCC 29 Society of Composers, Authors […] Read more
At the risk of overdoing it by posting twice on methodology in the same week (see also here), I should like to highlight a recent seminar held by the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies at the University of Melbourne. The topic is a forthcoming collection edited by yours truly and Professor Joe Tomlinson (York), Researching […] Read more
Readers may be interested by Professor Richard Fentiman KC’s Queens’ Distinguished Lecture in Law delivered at Queens’ College, Cambridge a few weeks ago. His title was “Citadels of the Law: Law Schools and the Defence of Doctrine” and the whole thing is well worth your time: On the same theme, Professor Jason Varuhas has an […] Read more
In Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v. Entertainment Software Association, 2022 SCC 30, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized a “rare” and “exceptional” new category of matters requiring correctness review, namely “when courts and administrative bodies have concurrent first instance jurisdiction over a legal issue in a statute” (at para. 28). […] Read more