The Crown has a legal duty to disclose all relevant information to the defence. The fruits of the investigation which are in its possession are not the property of the Crown for use in securing a conviction but the property of the public to be used to ensure that justice is done. R. v. Stinchcombe … [Read more...]
Viewpoint 42-2: Elected Municipal Officials Must Be Careful About Conflicts of Interest
Introduction At the time we are writing this, the province of Alberta is in election campaign mode for all of its municipal leaders known as mayors, councilors and reeves. At the same time, the federal Minister of Finance is under the ethical spotlight for how he continues to hold his personal … [Read more...]
Bad Behaviour 2.0: Part 1: Employees Getting Away With . . .
We scoured the judicial and arbitral decisions and found ten more random instances of egregious employee behaviour that Canadian courts and arbitrators excused. Since the judge or arbitrator found that the employers had no legal basis to find these employees, employers were hit with damages for … [Read more...]
Viewpoint 42-1: Scoring NAFTA: The United States Trounces Canada in Investor-State Disputes
“NAFTA is the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere, but certainly ever signed in this country” (September 26, 2016) “Because NAFTA . . . is perhaps the greatest disaster trade deal in the history of the world. Not in this country. It stripped us of manufacturing jobs. We lost our jobs. … [Read more...]
Murdoch v. Murdoch
[I did] “haying, raking, swathing, moving, driving trucks and tractors and teams, quietening horses, taking cattle back and forth to the reserve, dehorning, vaccinating, branding, anything that was to be done. I worked outside with him, just as a man would…” Irene Murdoch’s … [Read more...]
No Time Limitations on Sexual Harassment Lawsuits
Introduction Many readers will recall the recent Bill Cosby trial for sexual assault. The crime was allegedly committed in 2004, the criminal charge was laid on December 30, 2015 and the trial occurred in June 2017. It ended in a mistrial because the jury did not return a unanimous verdict. The … [Read more...]
Dozens of Legal Reasonables
The test is whether a reasonably informed bystander could reasonably perceive bias on the part of an adjudicator. Nicholson v. Haldimand-Norfolk Regional Police Commissioners, (Supreme Court of Canada, 1979, p. 325) http://canlii.ca/t/1mkvl Introduction If all the considerable bend in the … [Read more...]
Syncrude Ducks Produce Creative Sentence
Introduction Syncrude Canada Ltd, formed as a joint venture, is currently one of the earliest and largest producers of crude oil from Canada's oil sands. The consortium was initially formed in 1964 to mine oil from the Athabasca oil sands. It operates a large oil sand mine, utilities plant, … [Read more...]
Money for Nothing: International Longshore v. Ford
Introduction Recently, the Government of Alberta clawed back money it had paid to individuals on the basis of mistake. The government determined that these individuals had been ineligible to receive the money. This story attracted attention because the government was demanding the return of money … [Read more...]
The Evolution of Five Legal Doctrines in the Supreme Court of Canada
Introduction Legislation is enacted, amended and repealed over time in response to improvements and changes in social currents. The common law also evolves in the same way as judges pronounce, tweak and elaborate and then occasionally over-rule their previous legal doctrines. A recent search … [Read more...]