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Published on: 27 Nov 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Town liable for negligence re developer's storm sewer

Property owners often suffered damage when storm and sanitary sewers malfunction. Canadian municipalities are generally exempt from civil suits in nuisance relating to their sewers, due to special statutes adopted across the country. However, they can be successfully sued in negligence. Such…

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Published on: 26 Nov 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

When will Ontario courts refuse to impose minimum environmental fines?

Now that mandatory minimum environmental fines are so high, courts occasionally refuse to impose them.  For example, in R v. KIE Farms Ltd., a justice of the peace refused to impose a $25,000 minimum fine on a local farm, even though seepage from its corn silo made a local  watercourse toxic…

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Published on: 26 Nov 2012 By

Jurisdictional Issues in Canadian Defamation Law: Can you sue in your home province?

In this new article Siskinds Associate Mike Polvere takes an in depth look at the issue of cross border litigation and defamation. He discusses how the courts go about choosing the best jurisdiction to hear the matter. Is it prudent to start a libel action in Canada if the person who defamed…

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Published on: 19 Nov 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Waterpower projects can't be reviewed because they don't get review?

So, waterpower development can't be reviewed by the ERT, because it gets only minimal scrutiny under the Environmental Assessment Act. Given the substantial adverse environmental impacts that waterpower development can have, it is incongruous to exempt it so fully from public review.

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Published on: 8 Nov 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Twitter Moot: Common law right to a healthy atmosphere?

Saxe Law Office is proudly sponsoring the environmental law Twitter Moot for the second year. The question being debated by Canadian law students (in 140 characters or less) is: Do Canadians have a legally recognized right to a healthy global atmosphere? If so, large scale emissions of green…

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Published on: 6 Nov 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Directors and officers to be liable for contamination on escheated land?

What happens to contaminated sites when their corporate owner goes bust? Most of them end up escheating to the province, which is increasingly concerned about costs of managing them. Now, Ontario’s Ministry of Infrastructure is seeking comments on a proposed new management framework for forf…

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Published on: 29 Oct 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

New Canadian environmental assessments exclude stakeholders and issues

The new standing rules in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012, have now been interpreted the first two times, with contradictory results. The Prosperity Mine panel, in BC, has wisely interpreted the new standing rules broadly, including experts, Non-Governmental Organizations, Fi…

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Published on: 17 Oct 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Environmental regulation: Municipalities v province, province v. federal government

What happens when municipal bylaws try to control energy or resource projects authorized by the federal or provincial governments? (They have some scope). How far will the Spraytech precedent take them? Can corporations use federal insolvency laws to cleanse themselves of irksome environment…

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