Articles

Stan Berger reports on a recent case from Saskatchewan in which the court denied a freedom of information request for a confidential draft of a Major Hazards Risk Assessment Report.

John and Joanna examine the MOECC's recent effort at streamlining approvals.

Stan comments on the Ontario Superior Court's decision in Swaita v. The Queen (Ministry of Environment ) (2016) ONSC 5785 in which the court dismissed the Ministry's motion to strike a statement of claim arising out of clean up following an oil spill in September, 1990 that the plaintiff knew nothing about until the spring of 2013.

On Friday, October 7, 2016, Ontario's Environmental Review Tribunal released its decision in Wiggins v. Ontario (MOECC) (ERT Case Nos.: 16-036 to 16-042), and for the first time, found that engaging in an approved wind farm in accordance with its approval would cause serious harm to human health, as well as serious and irreversible harm to animal life, plant life or the natural environment.

The right to be tried within a reasonable time is a constitutionally protected right under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The SCC recently set an upper limit of 18 months as the presumed ceiling for a reasonable time to trial.

Jack compares recent approaches to sentencing under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Environmental Protection Act.

Paula summarizes the recent Superior Court decision in Dobara Properties Limited et al. v. Arnone et al., 2016 ONSC 3599 in which self-represented plaintiffs were able to recover remediation costs from their former litigation counsel who missed a limitation period to recover same from the plaintiffs' former real estate counsel.

Paula summarizes the federal government's recently released draft regulations for the Environmental Violations Administrative Monetary Penalties Act.

The authors comment on the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision, released on April 20, 2016, upholding Ontario's regulation of the purchase and sale of neonicotinoid pesticides (Ontario Regulation 139/15).

Realtors beware of potential MOECC clean-up orders. John discusses the situation that lead to the Environmental Review Tribunal's April 14, 2016 decision in McQuiston v. Ontario (MOECC) (ERT Case Nos. 15-09 through 15-024).