Administrative Law Matters

Commentary on developments in administrative law, particularly judicial review of administrative action by common law courts.

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The Signal and the Noise in the Supreme Court of Canada’s Administrative Law Jurisprudence

I have been quiet recently, in part because I have been working and travelling, but also because the last month of Supreme Court of Canada cases has been discouraging. While academics, practitioners and lower-court judges try to establish coherent frameworks to understand the general principles of judicial review, the Court resolves cases one-by-one without, with […] Read more

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Clawbies 2015: Year in Review

That time of year again! Here are my nominations for this year’s awards. Pierre Trudel, Journal de Montréal: my polyvalent colleague has been blogging on current legal affairs in an unlikely venue, the website of the blue-collar Journal de Montréal. His posts are excellent, accessible entrées into the legal issue du jour and deserve a […] Read more

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Can This Be Correct? Kanthasamy v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2015 SCC 61

Another week, another underwhelming standard-of-review decision from the Supreme Court of Canada — this time in Kanthasamy v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2015 SCC 61. At issue here was the scope of the Minister for Citizenship and Immigration’s authority to waive statutory conditions for “humanitarian or compassionate” reasons, an authority expressly conferred by s. 25(1) […] Read more

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Unresolved Issues in Standard of Review: B010 v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2015 SCC 58

Although B010 v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2015 SCC 58 was billed in the initial summary as an administrative law case, there is precious little discussion of the general principles of standard of review in McLachlin C.J.’s decision for a unanimous Supreme Court of Canada. At issue was the interpretation of legislation designed to discourage […] Read more

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Section 96 in the 21st Century

There are lots of things on my to-blog list, which I hope to start striking items off soon, but until then here is the last installment of my draft paper on section 96 of the Constitution Act. Comments very welcome! Alternative methods of dispute resolution – alternative, that is, to the ideal-type of adversarial trials […] Read more