Lethal buildings slaughter migratory and threatened birds
It’s a horror story – the beautiful glass-walled building you may work, shop or live in are wastefully killing millions of migratory birds. Many readers are likely familiar with the distressing thud of a bird breaking its neck or wing on those lovely glass panes, often at night when the ligh…
View the post titled Lethal buildings slaughter migratory and threatened birdsAbitibi wins, Newfoundland cleanup order unenforceable after insolvency
Provincial governments must do more to ensure that cleanup costs are provided by financial assurance during the active life of a business, and not rely on getting innocent third parties to pay for cleanups after the fact.
View the post titled Abitibi wins, Newfoundland cleanup order unenforceable after insolvencyWhen can municipalities regulate environmental impacts?
Eleven years after the landmark Spraytech case, how far have municipalities been able to go in regulating environmental impacts of federally and provincially regulated activities? The people who must live closest to a resource or energy project often turn to their municipalities to protect t…
View the post titled When can municipalities regulate environmental impacts?Canada must answer: why aren't we protecting polar bears?
As the polar bears of the Beaufort Sea face record low ice, the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has issued a determination, requiring a response from Canada to submission SEM-11-003 (Protection of Polar Bears). A year ago, on 5 December 2011, the US Center f…
View the post titled Canada must answer: why aren't we protecting polar bears?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.
View the post titled Innocent victim, Kawartha Lakes, gets leave to appeal spill cleanup orderWaste exemption becomes less useful: what is "wholly used"?
The Environmental Review Tribunal has reduced the usefulness of an important exception to the “waste” rules in Regulation 347.
View the post titled Waste exemption becomes less useful: what is "wholly used"?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…
View the post titled Town liable for negligence re developer's storm sewerWhen 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…
View the post titled When will Ontario courts refuse to impose minimum environmental fines?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…
View the post titled Jurisdictional Issues in Canadian Defamation Law: Can you sue in your home province?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.
View the post titled Waterpower projects can't be reviewed because they don't get review?Receive Blog Posts
By subscribing to our blog, you will receive an email when a new post is added. You can unsubscribe at any time by sending an email to us at [email protected] with the word “unsubscribe” in the subject line.