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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: 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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Published on: 27 Sep 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

How will Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012 work for designated projects?

According to the Conservatives, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 (CEAA 2012) will streamline the EA process, avoid duplication and consolidate responsibility for [EA] to three agencies instead of 40.[1] These three agencies are the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (the…

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Published on: 24 Sep 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Inco awarded $1,766,000 in costs for contamination class action

Justice J. R. Henderson of the Ontario Superior Court has awarded Inco $1,766,000 in legal costs arising from the Smith v. Inco nickel contamination class action  in  Port Colborne, Ontario. This is less than a quarter of Inco’s actual legal costs, which exceeded $5,340,000 after certi…

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Published on: 17 Sep 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Do the innocent get compensation after MOE orders?

Cleaning up your neighbour’s mess: Recovery of spill clean-up costs by the innocent party. It is clear that any civilized system of law is bound to provide remedies for cases of what has been called unjust enrichment or unjust benefit, that is to prevent a man from retaining the money of or …

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Published on: 27 Aug 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

New Canadian environmental assessment: a rose by any other name?

Officially, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012, has abolished most federal environmental assessment screenings,  but the practical  effect is less than it appears. Parks Canada, for example, has simply replaced the old Canadian Environmental Assessment Act process with its new, …

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Published on: 16 Aug 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Science, proof and causation: when courts and scientists disagree

Bad science should be thrown out of court. When alleged scientific data fails to meet relevant, objective quality standards specifically developed for that kind of data, no one knows whether the claimed result is either reliable or correct. It is fundamentally unfair to punish anyone base…

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