Monday’s Mix

Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award­-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from sixty recent Clawbie winners. In this way we hope to promote their work, with their permission, to as wide an audience as possible.

This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. Susan on the Soapbox  2. ABlawg.ca 3. All About Information  4. University of Alberta Faculty of Law Blog  5. À bon droit

Susan on the Soapbox
POTUS Kills Keystone XL

On Friday Barack Obama refused to issue a presidential permit allowing TCPL’s Keystone XL pipeline to cross the border between Canada and the United States. Obama rejected KXL because it wouldn’t meaningfully contribute to the economy, reduce gas prices or enhance America’s energy security. He described the urgent need to transition to a clean energy economy and while he didn’t say it, it’s easier to kill a project that doesn’t exist than one that does. …

ABlawg.ca
Impaired Driving and Approved Screening Devices

In October the Supreme Court of Canada issued two companion judgments concerning the constitutionality and meaning of the Automatic Roadside Prohibition (ARP) provisions set out in the Motor Vehicle Act, RSBC 1996, c 318. In Goodwin v British Columbia (Superintendent of Motor Vehicles) the Supreme Court upheld British Columbia’s ARP scheme as valid provincial law that does not unlawfully invade federal criminal law power or contravene section 11 of the Charter, but the Court also ruled that the seizure of a breath sample using an approved screening device (ASD) under the scheme as previously administered was an unreasonable seizure under section 8 of the Charter. …

All About Information
Duty to document in the news again

I finally got around to reading Access Denied – the British Columbia OIPC’s October 22nd bombshell of an investigation report on the processing of freedom of information requests. You’ve likely heard about the OIPC’s finding that a Ministerial Assistant in the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure commandeered an executive assistant’s workstation to wilfully “triple delete” e-mails responsive to an FOI request. …

University of Alberta Faculty of Law Blog
Announcing Dr. Carolyn Harris “Magna Carta and Its Gifts to Canada: Democracy, Law, and Human Rights”

Ms Magna Carta is very excited to announce that Dr. Carolyn Harris will be coming to the University of Alberta Faculty of Law on Thursday November 26th. She will be providing a public lecture, “Magna Carta and Its Gifts to Canada: Democracy, Law, and Human Rights.” The lecture will take place in room 231/237 in the law building at noon, and Dr. Harris will stay for a question and answer period as well as a book signing following the lecture….

À bon droit
Par Expert: La prudence quant au rejet préliminaire d’une expertise s’applique même lorsque le juge saisi de la question est celui qui entendra le procès

Nous avons attiré votre attention à multiples reprises sur le principe voulant que ce n’est que dans les cas les plus manifestes qu’une expertise sera rejetée au stade préliminaire. Or, comme le souligne l’Honorable juge Claudine Roy dans l’affaire Riendeau c. Brault & Martineau Inc. (2005 CanLII 27358), ce principe s’applique même lorsque le juge saisi du moyen préliminaire sera le juge saisi du procès. …

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*Randomness here is created by Random.org and its list randomizing function.