Natural Resources
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November 15, 2024
AI in the courtroom: Canadian Judicial Council’s new guidelines
With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, Canadian courts are under increasing pressure to address its impact. While some view AI as a possible threat to the rule of law and democracy within Canada’s justice system, AI also holds promise for enhancing court operations, reducing workloads, supporting judicial functions and improving access to justice.
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November 15, 2024
Regulatory discrimination is authorized | Sara Blake
The Supreme Court of Canada has confirmed that a regulation may discriminate among regulated entities for regulatory purposes: TransAlta Generation Partnership v. Alberta, 2024 SCC 37.
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November 14, 2024
TransAlta reaches deal with Competition Bureau in $542M acquisition of rival utility
To address competition concerns, Calgary-based TransAlta Corp. is paring back its acquisition of competitor Heartland Generation of Calgary — a deal originally valued at more than $600 million.
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November 14, 2024
Environmental law group sues Alberta over disclosure of mercury emissions at waste treatment plant
An environmental law group has filed a lawsuit against the province of Alberta over its alleged failure to disclose information about mercury emissions at a hazardous waste treatment centre.
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November 14, 2024
ONCA orders rehearing of youth-led climate lawsuit
On Oct. 17, 2024, the Ontario Court of Appeal (the ONCA) delivered its much-anticipated decision in Mathur (Litigation guardian of) v. Ontario, 2024 ONCA 762. In a unanimous ruling, the ONCA concluded that the application judge misinterpreted the applicants’ arguments, mistakenly viewing them as urging the court to impose obligations on the Ontario government to address climate change in a way that would protect rights to life, liberty, security and equality under ss. 7 and 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the Charter).
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November 14, 2024
Removal of untranslated English decisions on website won’t end novel lawsuit against SCC: plaintiff
The Supreme Court of Canada’s removal of thousands of pre-1970 (mostly unilingual-English) judgments from its website won’t end an unprecedented Federal Court lawsuit that aims to compel the top court’s registry to fix alleged violations of the Official Languages Act by translating the court’s unilingual decisions into the other official language, says the plaintiff language rights group Droits collectifs Québec.
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November 08, 2024
SCC elaborates on framework, scope for judicial review of regs and other subordinate legislation
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled 9-0 that the Vavilov “reasonableness” standard for judicial review — informed by some of the Katz Group principles — presumptively applies when courts review whether subordinate legislation is authorized by law.
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November 08, 2024
FCA dismisses appeal regarding ministerial order related to PEI potato wart infestation
The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal related to the judicial review of an order declaring Prince Edward Island as “a place infested with potato wart” and prohibiting the movement of the province’s seed potatoes without written authorization from an inspector.
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November 07, 2024
Federal Court of Appeal upholds random drug testing for ‘safety critical’ nuclear workers
The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld pre-placement and random alcohol and drug testing requirements for safety-critical workers at nuclear facilities, rejecting a union challenge to their constitutionality.
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November 07, 2024
Trudeau government falling behind in protecting at-risk animal and plant species: federal watchdog
Working at its current glacial pace, the resource-starved independent committee of experts, tasked by law with making the species-at-risk status assessments and reassessments needed to protect and restore endangered species, will take almost 30 years to assess the currently most vulnerable species and more than a century to assess those that are potentially at risk of disappearing, warns a new report from Canada’s Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development.