There are two important Canadian doctrines which affect the structure of administrative tribunals: impartiality and independence. Impartiality arises where a well-informed observer would have a reasonable apprehension of bias in a substantial number of cases. Independence, meanwhile, concerns the insulation of tribunal members from outside influence, something to be judged by reference to security of […] Read more

Mr. Justice Nadon, a member of the Federal Court of Appeal, was named — and indeed has been sworn in — as a judge of the Supreme Court of Canada. But a challenge has been launched to his appointment. And until the challenge is resolved, Justice Nadon will not sit as a member of the […] Read more

In Toronto on Thursday, October 24, I am speaking with Justice Stratas of the Federal Court of Appeal on developments in administrative law. We will be poking at the entrails of recent Supreme Court of Canada decisions and trying to discern what the future holds. Discussion will be informal and frank. I am very much […] Read more

I spent yesterday afternoon at an excellent conference in Ottawa on the Copyright Pentalogy. I was among the contributors from the collection on the pentalogy edited by Michael Geist who gave presentations. I was also the only non-copyright lawyer who spoke. Regular readers will not be surprised that I urged deference from the courts to […] Read more

Quebec’s Charbonneau Commission is continuing to make headlines. Most recently, the testimony of Ken Pereira, a former trade union activist, is keeping the printing presses tipping over. The Commission registered an important victory earlier this week before the Superior Court on a question of procedural fairness: Beaulieu c. Charbonneau, 2013 QCCS 4629.One of the witnesses […] Read more

Mark Elliott has a very interesting post on substantive review on the UK Constitutional Law Blog. Here are some choice extracts, with some highlighting: A better starting point, I think, is another insight offered by Taggart, according to which public law is increasingly about the enforcement of a “culture of justification”… Against this background, several […] Read more

Public Service Alliance of Canada v. Canada (Attorney General), 2013 FC 91 is an illuminating case on many issues, especially procedural fairness.  At issue was a labour relations dispute between the federal government and one of its agencies. The bone of contention was a direction by the Minister for Canadian Heritage that a group of […] Read more

With Justice Morris Fish’s retirement, the federal government must appoint a new judge from the province of Québec to the Supreme Court of Canada. A shortlist of three names is lying on the Prime Minister’s desk. Among them is thought to be Justice Bich of the Québec Court of Appeal. I spoke with the Globe […] Read more

Audrey Macklin sent on some perceptive, though critical, comments on my post on last week’s Supreme Court of Canada decision in Divito. She kindly allowed me to share them: 1. I agree with your preference for the minority view on the breach of s. 6(1). If you are right that an inchoate appeal to positive/negative […] Read more