The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Wastech Services Ltd. v. Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District, 2021 SCC 7 touches on a couple of issues arising at the intersection between public and private law. The case was about contractual discretion. M contracted with W to provide waste removal and transportation services. For many years […] Read more

When I originally drafted my paper on “Unresolved Issues after Vavilov“, I left out the standard of review of regulations. Frankly, having discussed the matter in a couple of webinars in the first half of 2020, I thought the matter was settled. The decision of the Divisional Court upholding Ontario’s lockdown regulations in Hudson’s Bay […] Read more

I have uploaded my chapter for Leading Works in Public Law to SSRN. Here is the abstract: In his classic text, Judicial Review of Administrative Action, Professor de Smith drew out from the prerogative writs a body of general principles relating to judicial review of administrative action. Published in 1959, de Smith’s book wove a […] Read more

Later this year, starting next month, Verfassungsblog will be running a symposium on the law and politics of the pandemic. I’m contributing a piece on Canada. Here are some thoughts, building on a book chapter I wrote last summer. The role of the judiciary has been relatively passive. Monsanto v. Canada (Health), 2020 FC 1053 […] Read more

Earlier this week I recorded a podcast with Justice Pallotta of the Federal Court for the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice’s new In All Fairness series. You can listen to the podcast here. Do also subscribe to the series. Here is an outline of my discussion with Justice Pallotta: What are the historical […] Read more

Happy New Year! I have posted “Patent Unreasonableness after Vavilov” to SSRN. Here is the abstract: Much ink has already been spilled about the implications of the Supreme Court of Canada’s reformulation of administrative law in Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) v Vavilov. One issue, which has largely been overlooked in the literature but will require […] Read more

Back in October, I participated in a wonderful conference organized by Professor Kevin Banks (Queen’s) and the Centre for the Study of Law in the Contemporary Workplace. The panel videos are now available here: Panel 1: Reasonableness Review Post-Vavilov: An Encomium for Correctness, or Deference as Usual? Panel 2: Expertise and the Standard of Review […] Read more

The Vavilov’s First Birthday Conference took place on Friday, December 18 on Zoom. You can watch a recording of the proceedings here via Youtube: Thanks to the Centre for Public Law and the Alex Trebek Forum For Dialogue for supporting the event. And here is a record of the “chat” throughout the event, which has […] Read more