Alberta Law Review (ALR)
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Sacrificing Fish for Power: A Legal History of the Spray Lakes Development
Get PDFThis article tells the story of how Calgary Power acquired a legal licence to divert and store water in the Spray Lakes Reservoir, how multiple legal instruments, including the National Parks Act, Alberta’s Water Resources Act, and the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement were shaped along the way, as well as details the subsequent efforts that have been made to restore stream flows to the Spray River and rehabilitate its native cutthroat trout population. This article highlights many of the challenges that older hydro-developments pose to aquatic ecosystem health and instream flow needs, while demonstrating that the law can be shaped in interesting ways through the dual pressure of economic growth and environmentalism. This story offers food for thought as Canadian environmental legislation appears poised to undergo significant change
Alberta’s Insurance Amendment Act: Meaningful Change or a Long Arrow with a Short Bow?
Get PDFA litigator I used to work with had a way with metaphors. He once described a legal argument as being a “long arrow with a really short bow” — the implication being that, while impressive and even intimidating at first instance, the argument really did not “fly” and failed to advance the law in a meaningful way. This description came to mind when the Alberta government announced last year that the major components of the province’s long-awaited Insurance Amendment Act would take effect on 1 July 2012. Are the modifications contained in this statute worth the years of anticipation and consultation, or are the changes implemented by the legislation less significant for insurance contract law than the long reform process would suggest? In other words, does the statutory amendment achieve meaningful change by effectively addressing pressing insurance contract issues, or is this reform just a long arrow with a short bow
The Relationship Between Governments and Independent Regulatory Agencies: Will We Ever Get it Right?
Get PDFThis article examines the relationship that exists between governments and independent regulatory agencies. The article begins by reviewing this relationship within the context of the Usage Based Billing (UBB) debate that began after the Federal government, in opposition to a ruling by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), ordered the CRTC to go back and review its decision. After discussing the various arguments in favour of and against UBB, and discussing the policy concerns that exist with respect to government intervention in regulatory decisions, the article then provides a suggestion as to what should have occurred during the UBB debate. Next, the article looks at energy regulation at the provincial level, using Alberta and British Columbia as case studies. Finally, the article concludes with a discussion on potential regulatory structural reforms
Protecting Your Intellectual Capital in the Canadian Oil and Gas Industry
Get PDFTechnological advancements are a key economic driver in the energy sector, particularly in the Alberta oil sands. Underlying the commercialization and use of such advancements are patents, trade secrets, and other intellectual property assets that can provide a competitive advantage in the energy sector. Appropriate planning and processes help maximize the advantage and minimize the risks associated with developing, protecting, licencing, enforcing, and otherwise leveraging intellectual property in the energy sector. This article includes a brief description of patents and trade secrets under Canadian intellectual property law. The article also includes a review of issues related to protecting patents and trade secrets, both in terms of developing the assets themselves and in terms of ensuring clarity of ownership with respect to employment and other contractual relationships between inventors and owners, as well as assignees, particularly within the context of joint ventures. Finally, the article provides a review of current Canadian law relevant to the enforcement of patents, with a focus on issues likely to arise in the litigation of patents for technology and trade secrets used in the oil and gas industry
The New Dawn — Commercial and Regulatory Considerations Affecting Liquified Natural Gas Export from British Columbia
Get PDFThis article explores a sampling of commercial and regulatory issues, challenges, and risks encountered in the development of the Kitimat Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) project. The authors describe practical and innovative solutions proposed by lawyers to address the issues, resolve the challenges, and mitigate the risks of an LNG export project. The commercial and regulatory arrangements of the Kitimat LNG project are described. Industrial development on Aboriginal lands is overviewed, particularly in regards to the need for consultation with Aboriginal communities and First Nations groups affected by the proposed LNG project. The National Energy Board export authorizations are also overviewed, with a focus on the export licence requirement for an LNG project.
The Real Dope: Social, Legal, and Historical Perspectives on the Regulation of Drugs in Canada, edited by Edgar-André Montigny (Toronto:University of Toronto Press, 2011)
Get PDFIn The Real Dope: Social, Legal, and Historical Perspectives on the Regulation of Drugs in Canada, Edgar-Andre? Montigny brings together a broad range of recent writing on a wide variety of drugs. The collection is well worth reading for the insights it provides into Canada’s socio-legal historical experience of the regulation of different psychoactive substances and for its documentation of the wealth of expertise coalescing in this area of research. This subject matter has inspired much critical analysis and scholarly debate about the role of academics in informing policy discussions about drug use and support for liberal drug policy reform. The present contribution is unique in its broad coverage of different “types” of drugs in different eras, and in its accessible, coherent presentation of historical material. Each chapter stands both alone and as an asset to its larger contemporary relevance, as interpreted by authors drawn from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds
The Changing Regulatory Scheme in Northeast British Columbia
Get PDFThe Northeast British Columbia (NEBC) oil patch is undergoing a boom in land tenure sales, exploration, and production. This comes at a time of increasing public concern over the use of hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”), an unconventional technology that ushered in a new era of production in NEBC, along with several new contentious issues. Recently, four significant regulatory changes have been enacted or planned for the immediate future. The first, likely in response to public concern over fracking, occurred in October 2010 with an overhaul of the decades-old Petroleum and Natural Gas Act and the coming into force of the bulk of the provisions in the Oil and Gas Activities Act. The changes primarily affect production and environmental management, and several new provisions have a direct impact on fracking. The second change under development is the creation of a long-awaited groundwater licencing regime, marking a stronger environmental presence in the NEBC, and possibly abrogating pre-existing extraction rights. The third change arises from the expiry of Crown-First Nation Consultation Process Agreements (CPAs). Recent jurisprudence continues to point to the need for improved consultation and accommodation, but current negotiations may or may not succeed in arriving at a more comprehensive successor to the expired CPAs. Finally, under British Columbia’s contaminated sites regime, new measures expand the liability exposure of oil patch operators for contaminated sites in both civil actions and government enforcement proceedings
The Case for Comprehensive Random Breath Testing Programs in Canada: Reviewing the Evidence and Challenges
Get PDFImpairment related crashes remain Canada’s leading criminal cause of death. In response, this article examines impaired driving rates and enforcement in Canada and argues that random breath testing programs would increase the risk of apprehension, thereby enhancing the deterrent impact of Canada’s impaired driving laws. The authors analyze the international experience with random breath testing, explaining that most developed and developing countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland have implemented random breath testing. These programs have had significant traffic safety benefits and enjoy broad public support. The authors argue that, while random breath testing legislation may be found to infringe section 8 and is most likely to infringe sections 9 and 10(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it should be upheld under section 1. They argue that the potential benefits of random breath testing in Canada would be substantial, while the effects on individual rights would be modest
R v Syncrude Canada: A Clash of Bitumen and Birds
Get PDFOn 28 April 2008, approximately 1,600 migratory birds died when they landed on a tailings pond located on Syncrude Canada’s Aurora North tar sands mine along the Athabasca river north of Fort McMurray. The Aurora mine, along with others in this region, fall under the pathway for migratory birds flying to and from breeding grounds in the Peace Athabasca freshwater delta in Wood Buffalo National Park. Weather or fatigue will influence migratory birds to rest along their route and a tailings pond located under the flyway is an attractive resting spot, particularly in early spring as the warm bitumen froth in the pond keeps its surface free of ice and snow. Unsuspecting birds who land on the pond risk being trapped in the sticky mat of toxic bitumen that floats on the surface before it sinks. The migratory birds who landed on the Aurora tailings pond that day were sentenced to certain death
Introduction
Get PDFVal Napoleon is the Coordinator for this Special Issue of the Alberta Law Review on Restorative Justice. In this issue, we present a range of articles that explore some of the many critical questions in the contested and dynamic field of restorative justice. We set out to provide a space for a deep and critical engagement with the complex questions and issues in the field and, with this issue, we have succeeded in creating just such a space where these challenging conversations can take place. This issue brings together an interesting and diverse group of nine authors who bring different perspectives, experiences, and wide-ranging approaches to both the practice and theory of restorative justice