Toronto's war on waste, chapter 37
In another chapter of the long war over who pays for waste, Toronto is tired of spending so much on single use packaging. Packaging costs the city huge sums for collection, sorting and recycling, and eats up vast amounts of precious landfill space. To the outrage of some manufacturers and retailers, Toronto is now asking:...
Continue reading the post titled Toronto's war on waste, chapter 37Water rebates — a new twist on enforcement
Violations of a municipal sewer by-law are normally punished by prosecution. This requires a municipality to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a violation has occurred. In addition, the defendant has an opportunity to escape punishment by proving that it used due diligence. The maximum fines are set by by-law, and are often relatively modest;...
Continue reading the post titled Water rebates — a new twist on enforcementCourts get tougher on partisan experts
The court refused to accept him as an expert. There was no doubt that he had genuine accounting expertise, but he lacked the critical element of impartiality.
Continue reading the post titled Courts get tougher on partisan expertsClass Members, no rights to appeal settlement approval
On October 17, 2019 the Court of Appeal of Ontario released its decision in Bancroft-Snell v. Visa Canada Corporation, 2019 ONCA 822. The Court of Appeal’s unanimous five-judge panel decision confirmed individual class members have no right to appeal settlement approval orders even where they appear and object to the issuance of the settlement approval...
Continue reading the post titled Class Members, no rights to appeal settlement approvalWhat is on-premises software and how is it different from cloud computing?
If you’re starting a software company, you’re probably wondering whether you should (a) distribute the software to your end-user; or (b) run the software from the cloud while providing the end user log-in credentials to remotely access the software. This is one of the existential questions plaguing software developers. Through this blog, I’ll first describe...
Continue reading the post titled What is on-premises software and how is it different from cloud computing?Innocent victim, Kawartha Lakes, gets leave to appeal spill cleanup order
The Ontario Court of Appeal has granted leave to appeal the Ministry of the Environment Order requiring an innocent victim of a spill, the City of Kawartha Lakes, to clean up oil from a domestic fuel spill.
Continue reading the post titled Innocent victim, Kawartha Lakes, gets leave to appeal spill cleanup orderAcquittals in Two Recent Fisheries Act Prosecutions
We often report on convictions under the Fisheries Act. It is less often that we report on acquittals. In the last several months, two cases related to charges against farmers in PEI under the Fisheries Act were dismissed. The cases turned on whether the farmers, contrary to section 36(3) the Act, permitted the deposit of...
Continue reading the post titled Acquittals in Two Recent Fisheries Act ProsecutionsWhere are electronic documents for hazardous waste?
Where are electronic documents for hazardous waste? Under Ontario’s Regulation 347, waste generators must keep some documents at the waste generation facility, in either physical or electronic form. Physical storage at each waste generation facility may be challenging. Will cloud (or other remote) storage do?
Continue reading the post titled Where are electronic documents for hazardous waste?Waste Diversion, monopolies and competition on packaging waste
The Recycling Council of Ontario’s annual meeting February 4 began with an electrifying presentation on the huge cost savings that resulted from the German anti-trust bureau breaking up its stewardship organization’s monopoly on processing packaging waste (the majority of our blue box waste). Now the people who helped to blow up the German monopoly on processing packaging waste...
Continue reading the post titled Waste Diversion, monopolies and competition on packaging wasteMunicipalities recovering spill costs
In 2005, the Environmental Protection Act was amended to allow municipalities a new mechanism to recover the costs of cleaning up spills. s.100.1 allows municipalities to cleanup spills caused by private parties, and to issue orders to recover the costs. This has also allowed the MOE to download to municipalities the cost and responsibility of...
Continue reading the post titled Municipalities recovering spill costsReceive Blog Posts
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