Commentary on developments in administrative law, particularly judicial review of administrative action by common law courts.
More details will follow in due course, but readers may appreciate knowing that on Monday, April 20, I am organizing a day-long conference on Vavilov, to take place in the Desmarais Building at the University of Ottawa (with support from the Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue, the Centre for Public Law and the Health Policy […] Read more
If you are going to be in Ottawa on March 4, 2020, you can come to my inaugural lecture (and reception), at the University of Ottawa (Fauteux Hall, Room 302, 57 Louis Pasteur Private, Ottawa K1N 6N5, at 5pm). Sign up here. Here is the abstract: We live in a world of increasing complexity, submerged […] Read more
What are the social media behemoths — Facebook, Google, Netflix, Twitter, Youtube, etc — that have come to dominate much of the contemporary public sphere? Answering this question is crucial to determining what role courts, economic regulators and legislatures should play in respect of the behemoths’ activities. Are they utilities, traditionally subject to regulation, in […] Read more
Here’s the blurb for next week’s CIAJ webinars on Vavilov (English on Wednesday; French on Thursday): In Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65, the Supreme Court of Canada developed a new framework for judicial review of administrative action, focusing on two issues: selecting the standard of review and applying the […] Read more
See now “One Year of Vavilov“ Courts around Canada are beginning to apply the Vavilov framework. It is still (just about) too early to draw any firm conclusions. Nonetheless, even at this early stage in the life of Vavilovian judicial review there have been some interesting decisions. I have cbeen coming back to this post […] Read more
My calendar is starting to fill up with Vavilov-related events. Here’s a list of those accessible to the public (typically for a fee). I’ll add further links (and further events) as I have them: February 6 Canadian Bar Association, Webinar (with Professor Jamie Liew and Justice David Stratas) February 19 and 20 Canadian Institute for […] Read more
I have posted “The Vavilov Framework and the Future of Canadian Administrative Law” to SSRN: This paper is the first comprehensive analysis of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Vavilov v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2019 SCC 65. Here, the Supreme Court rewrote its administrative law jurisprudence, aiming to bring clarity and coherence to […] Read more
This is the fourth and final post in a series: see the previous posts here, here and here. Having explained in the previous section how front-line administrative officials should not exercise the discretion and judgement they inevitably exercise, I turn in this section to how they should do so. My answer has two prongs. First, […] Read more
Readers who enjoyed my posts on the framework for judicial review of administrative action set out by the Supreme Court of Canada in Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65 will also enjoy Justice David Stratas’s updated paper, “The Canadian Law of Judicial Review: Some Doctrine and Cases“, which now takes […] Read more