The ELC is pleased to announce publication of its Model for Harmonized Provincial Environmental and Sustainability Assessment. In recent years, federal environmental assessment law has undergone radical changes resulting in a reduced number and scope of federal environmental assessment. Consequently, the provinces are positioned to take...
Last week was a busy week for climate change law and policy…. A victory for strong domestic climate change action: Urgenda Foundation v. State of the Netherlands In the Netherlands, a landmark decision in a climate liability lawsuit was issued (see decision and related newspaper articles here,...
Earlier this month, we had the opportunity to participate in the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER)’s Best-in-Class Initiative. This initiative is being conducted by the University of Pennsylvania through its Penn Program on Regulation to develop the tools and framework necessary for the AER to become...
Earlier this month, the Alberta government introduced its proposed amendments to the Municipal Government Act (MGA) in the form of Bill 20: Municipal Government Amendment Act. These amendments follow from several months of public consultation conducted by Municipal Affairs (details can be found on the...
The National Energy Board (the “NEB”) recently began its public engagement initiative relating to pipeline safety [the information about the cross-country engagement initiative in this blog post was gathered from the NEB’s website at www.neb-one.gc.ca ]. The NEB seeks public input on pipeline safety and...
Following significant changes to the federal environmental assessment regime, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEA Agency) continues to revisit its policy and guideline documents. Currently, the CEA Agency seeks public comments on its draft Technical Guidance for Assessing Cumulative Environmental Effects under the Canadian Environmental...
The Federal Court issued its decision in Courtoreille v Governor General in Council 2014 FC 1244 on December 19th. In this case, Chief Steve Courtoreille – on behalf of himself and the Mikisew Cree First Nation – sought relief for the federal government’s failure to...
Earlier this month, the Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development (the “Report”) was released. This Report is the first issued by Julie Gelfand, the recently appointed Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development. Several important questions are posed in the Report (page 1)....
In recent months, there have been several interesting environmental law decisions issued by the Federal Court of Canada. In both Greenpeace Canada v Canada (Attorney General), 2014 FC 463 (CanLII) and Council of the Innu of Ekuanitshit v Canada (Attorney General), 2014 FCA 189 (CanLII),...
As indicated in previous posts, the Alberta government is currently reviewing the Municipal Government Act (MGA). Given the key role that municipalities play in the management and protection of Alberta’s environment, we have participated in this review by making written submissions. Ultimately, we would like...
Late last year, the National Energy Board (NEB) released its decision on the Northern Gateway Project and recommended approval of the project subject to 209 conditions (see here for our summary of that decision). While the NEB conducted the public hearing and issued a decision,...
Recommendations to Strengthen Alberta’s Municipal Government Act In Alberta, the powers and activities of municipalities are governed by the Municipal Government Act (the MGA). The Government of Alberta is currently conducting a review of the MGA and, as part of this process, we made our written...
