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

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

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

Perhaps unsurprisingly media coverage of the Charbonneau Commission report (see my previous post) has focused on facts. Who was blamed — or not blamed — and why not? Why did Renaud Lachance disagree with France Charbonneau’s conclusion that there was a link between political party financing and the awarding of public contracts? Posing these questions […] Read more

From Michael Jackson and Philippe Lagassé: May I draw to your attention that registration is currently being accepted for the conference “The Crown in the 21st Century:  Deference or Drift?” to be held at Government House in Victoria, BC, 14-16 January 2016.  This will bring together leading authorities on the Crown from Canada, Australia, New […] Read more

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

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

Another copyright decision from the Supreme Court of Canada, another discussion of the standard of review — the “prodigal child” of Canadian law (at para. 185)* — and, again, sharp disagreement between Rothstein and Abella JJ: Canadian Broadcasting Corp. v. SODRAC 2003 Inc., 2015 SCC 57. At issue was the application of the principle of […] Read more

There will be plenty of coverage in the coming days of the final report of the Charbonneau Commission, released this morning. This is the culmination of a lengthy inquiry into Quebec’s construction industry, which extended its tentacles to other spheres of public life. I had a miniscule part in the report. One of the 60 […] Read more

The High Court of Australia unanimously dismissed the appeal in Minister for Immigration and Border Protection v WZARH [2015] HCA 40. I posted previously on the decision of the Full Federal Court. Readers will recall the issue: a refugee claimant was interviewed by one Reviewer and was told that this Reviewer would make a recommendation, […] Read more