Commentary on developments in administrative law, particularly judicial review of administrative action by common law courts.
I was honoured to contribute to a recent symposium on the work of Professor TRS Allan. I have posted my paper “A Defence of Administrative Law Doctrine” to SSRN: Doctrine fits uneasily in Professor TRS Allan’s theory of law: on the one hand, for Professor Allan, “law” is the outcome of a process of all-things-considered […] Read more
The pertinence of international law for Canadian administrative decision-makers was an issue in Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v. Entertainment Software Association, 2022 SCC 30. The Supreme Court’s decision brings some clarity to the legal framework in this area, but could have been clearer on one point, about latent ambiguity, and […] Read more
The short answer is, “yes”, subject to complying with the duty of procedural fairness and providing a reasoned justification for doing so. After Mr Poilievre’s election as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada at the weekend, the online publication Central Banking asked me and several others whether he could follow through on his commitment […] Read more
Since its decision in Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65, [2019] 4 SCR 653 in December 2019 (and a couple of companion decisions released the same month), the Supreme Court of Canada has done nothing in respect of the standard of review of administrative action. And, it must be said, […] Read more
This is the last in my series of posts on the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Law Society of Saskatchewan v. Abrametz, 2022 SCC 29 (see also here, here, here and here). Before discussing the available remedies for administrative delay in the wake of Abrametz, it is appropriate to note the dissenting reasons of […] Read more
This is the latest in my series of posts on the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Law Society of Saskatchewan v. Abrametz, 2022 SCC 29 (see also here, here and here). Undue delay in Canadian administrative law is an aspect of procedural fairness. A “corollary” to the duty to act fairly is “a power […] Read more
In my last post, I explained the position we took on the standard of review of procedural fairness issues in Law Society of Saskatchewan v. Abrametz, 2022 SCC 29 (overview here). In this post, I will tease out the implications of the decision. During my oral submissions (all seven minutes of them!), Justice Rowe asked […] Read more
In this and the following post, I will address the implications of Law Society of Saskatchewan v. Abrametz, 2022 SCC 29 for the standard of review on procedural fairness matters (see my overview of the case here). I will suggest that the implications are potentially profound, as Abrametz suggests that procedural fairness issues should be […] Read more
As regular readers know, I was counsel for the Law Society of Saskatchewan (with Alyssa Tomkins and Charles Daoust) in Law Society of Saskatchewan v. Abrametz, 2022 SCC 29. By a majority of 8-1, the Supreme Court of Canada (Rowe J for the majority, Côté J dissenting) allowed our appeal from the decision of the […] Read more
This blog has now been up and running for a decade (since May 2012). In that time, I have published over 1,000 entries. I hope at some point to mark these anniversaries with some thoughts about my blogging experience and what I have learned over the years. For now, as I head off on vacation […] Read more