Climate Change Alters Municipal Role and Responsibilities
“[By] covering a ground plot with buildings and pavements, which carry off most of the rain and prevent its soaking into the Earth and renewing and purifying the Springs … the water of wells must gradually grow worse, and in time be unfit for use as I find has happened in all old cities. Benjamin...
View the post titled Climate Change Alters Municipal Role and Responsibilities“Protective” and “Preventative” Purpose of Ontario’s Environmental Protection Act Justifies Warrantless Inspection Powers
In a decision released December 14, 2018, the Ontario Court of Appeal clarified the legal test that authorizes a warrantless inspection under s. 156(1) of the Environmental Protection Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.19 (“EPA”). Facts of the Case In the case, Ontario (Environment and Climate Change) v…
View the post titled “Protective” and “Preventative” Purpose of Ontario’s Environmental Protection Act Justifies Warrantless Inspection PowersMunicipalities awarded $115 MM for 2014 Blue Box
Stewardship Ontario must pay Ontario municipalities $115,172,322 for operating residential blue box programs in 2014, about $20 million more than Stewardship Ontario had proposed for 2014
View the post titled Municipalities awarded $115 MM for 2014 Blue BoxMinister receptive to Commissioner's climate report
Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner issued his annual Climate Change report last month, as usual scolding the provincial government for its inaction on both mitigation and adaptation. But this year, the report got an unusual reception: the new Minister of the Environment and Climate C…
View the post titled Minister receptive to Commissioner's climate reportMore Ontario Statements of Environmental Values proposed
The Ontario Ministries of Rural Affairs and of Agriculture and Food have each proposed a draft Statement of Environmental Values under the Environmental Bill of Rights. The Ontario Environmental Commissioner has, for many years, called for all ministries who make decisions with significant e…
View the post titled More Ontario Statements of Environmental Values proposedSupreme Court: Honest efforts to understand the law are not enough
The Supreme Court of Canada has made compliance with ambiguous regulations tougher than ever, by ruling that honest efforts to understand the law (however confusing) are not enough. In La Souveraine, Compagnie d’assurance générale v. Autorité des marchés financiers, Sovereign General (SG) wa…
View the post titled Supreme Court: Honest efforts to understand the law are not enoughKudos to Environmental Commissioner
Our congratulations to Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner for three more excellent reports: 2012/2013 Annual Report: Serving the Public A Review of Ontario’s Weakened Protections for Species at Risk (Special Report, Nov. 2013) Building Momentum:Annual Energy Conservation Progre…
View the post titled Kudos to Environmental CommissionerFeds must disclose: will they save the endangered sage grouse?
As we wrote earlier, sage grouse are on the brink of extinction in Canada due to the destruction of their habitat, largely related to oil and gas development. The federal Minister of the Environment has refused to disclose if they will do anything about it. Last week’s Federal Court of Appea…
View the post titled Feds must disclose: will they save the endangered sage grouse?Information Commissioner asked to stop muzzling of government scientists
The Environmental Law Centre of the University of Victoria has written to Suzanne Legault, Information Commissioner of Canada, asking her, pursuant to s. 30(1)(f) of the Access to Information Act, to: investigate the federal government’s policies and actions to obstruct the right of the publ…
View the post titled Information Commissioner asked to stop muzzling of government scientistsClimate change burns while governments fiddle
Everywhere I look, I see galloping evidence of climate change. Last weekend, southern Ontario watched ski trails and ice rinks melt under the onslaught of record high temperatures and heavy rain. Spring perennials and bulbs were blooming in Toronto gardens, blooms that will be destroyed for …
View the post titled Climate change burns while governments fiddleReceive Blog Posts
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