Articles 2025

Ontario’s cap and trade program launched in January 2017 and includes a number of rules regarding participation in the carbon market including prohibitions against insider trading, tipping, bid coordination, unlawful disclosures, fraud and market manipulation. Market participants should ensure they are familiar with all rules governing their conduct in the carbon market. Contravention of the market rules is an offence that could result in substantial minimum fines.

Pending reforms to the Ontario air emissions regulatory regime promise to be of interest to energy project developers and, and no doubt to their lawyers as well. Specifically, some projects which now must obtain an ECA Air permit will be able to register the project on the soon to be expanded Environmental Activity and Sector Registry.

It is clear that carbon pricing will be one of the primary tools that Canadian governments will use to incentivize emissions reductions and generate revenue to pay for mitigation and adaptation. A number of key energy supply agreement provisions that should be reviewed in order to assess: who will bear the cost of compliance with carbon pricing regimes? Who will benefit from revenue generated by the sale of off-sets? Could increasing carbon prices result in the termination of the agreement?

The recent Ontario Court of Justice appeal decision in R v AJL Janssen Landscaping Ltd, 2016 ONCJ 496, has offered some guidance as to when a field may be a “pit” under section 1(1) of the Aggregate Resources Act. Following the decision, a field that is being rehabilitated to accommodate farming uses is generally a “pit” and subject to the ARA’s permitting scheme. But when the primary purpose of that work is to build a structure, it may be exempt.

Blueberry River First Nations (BRFN) has commenced a novel treaty rights infringement claim (Claim) against the Province of British Columbia (Province). The Claim, filed March 3, 2015, alleges that the Province has breached its Treaty 8 obligations due to the cumulative impacts of provincially authorized industrial development in BRFN’s traditional territory. This article provides an overview and analysis of the key aspects of the Claim.

This is a case summary and analysis of East Durham Wind, Inc. v. The Municipality of West Grey. The case raises interesting questions related to how and when a municipal by-law or policy may frustrate the purpose of a provincial legislative instrument and relates to the ongoing renewable energy revolution in Ontario that was ushered in by the Green Energy Act, S.O. 2009, c. 12.

In September 2014, Ottawa announced the ratification of the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (the Canada- China FIPA). The Canada-China FIPA, which came into force on October 1, 2014, is the newest addition to Canada’s growing list of foreign investment protection agreements.

The current state and possible future direction of nuclear development in Ontario is an important topic for lawyers with a focus on the energy sector, as well as those in government and industry. The OBA section program “Radioactive Issues in Nuclear Energy in Ontario” provided a comprehensive overview of emerging issues and trends in nuclear development, including a background on nuclear waste management in the province and a discussion of thorium, an alternative nuclear fuel.

Disclosure of royalties and other payments to foreign governments is a front-line issue for Canadian mining and oil and gas companies. A section program, ‘Transparency of Payments to Foreign Governments in Extractive Industries: A Review of the Changing Landscape’ gave participants a tour d’horizon of this legal risk area.

Canadian mining associations and civil society organizations released recommendations for the development of a payment transparency standard for all publicly-traded mining companies in Canada on January 16, 2014.The group's recommendations provide the federal and provincial governments and securities commissions with a blueprint for a payment reporting framework. This framework will serve the needs of the data’s end-users, such as citizens, governments, investors and reporting companies.