Business Law

The United States Senate and House of Representatives have passed a sweeping new statute, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. The Act, which the president cannot veto and will come into effect in six months, slashes the permissible level of lead in children’s products …

Yesterday’s crash of a heritage tree in High Park is another reminder of our need to pay more attention to the law regarding trees. Climate change greatly increases the importance of having trees in urban areas, for shade, to protect water, to provide wildlife and bird habitat and to k…

Light pollution can disrupt melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate circadian rhythm and may be important in preventing cancers.

Ontario has joined the Western Climate Initiative, North America’s largest green partnership, just in time for its third major Stakeholder Workshop. Most Canadian provinces are now Partners or Observers in the WCI, with the notable exceptions of Alberta and the Atlantic provinces. In f…

Are tiny levels of drugs in bottled or tap water a health risk? We just don't know.

In February, we told you about the landmark decision in Berendsen v. Ontario, a precedent-setting case holding the Ontario government liable for contamination of a dairy farm by road waste. On July 11, Berendsen’s victory became doubly sweet when Judge Seppi awarded them $655,000 in le…

A wide cross section of knowledgeable people showed strong interest this week in the Liberal proposal to start shifting federal taxes from income to carbon pollution. Representatives of business, NGOs, universities, environmental consultants and the legal bar gathered on short notice to ques…

Ontario has pushed through a regulation that gives residents no say in the type or location of most future transit projects. Ontario regulation 231/08, which came into effect June 24, exempts virtually all transit projects from conventional environmental assessment. Instead, major transit pr…

The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld the federal government’s narrow interpretation of its Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (“CEAA”). In Red Chris Development Co. Ltd. versus Miningwatch Canada, Miningwatch tried, unsuccessfully, to compel the federal government to c…