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. First Reference Talks  2. Susan on the Soapbox 3. Clicklaw Blog  4. Labour Pains  5. Blogue du CR

First Reference Talks
All pay and no work? That’s constructive dismissal!

Last year, we discussed a case which held that preventing an employee from working during a purported “working notice” period can constitute constructive dismissal. The rationale for the decision was that unilaterally preventing an employee from performing their duties (even when they’re still receiving their pay and benefits) is a fundamental change to the terms of employment. In Thompson v Cardel Homes Limited Partnership, 2014 ABCA 242, the Alberta Court of Appeal again affirmed this principle, but in different circumstances. ….

Susan on the Soapbox
Jim Prentice’s Budget: The Not-So-Subtle Language of Money

“There is no fortress so strong that money cannot take it.” — Cicero. On Mar 24, 2015 Jim Prentice sent Albertans a message of such heartless cynicism that only the most naïve amongst us would fail to understand. Money talks. Here’s what Jim Prentice’s Budget 2015* told Albertans. Corporations matter, you don’t. When asked why the government did not raise corporate taxes, Finance Minister Robin Campbell replied “The corporate sector is going to do their part, but we have to do our part also.”** …

Clicklaw Blog
New Fact Sheet on Refusing Health Care: What are my Rights?

2015 has been a year of landmark cases, about physician-assisted dying in the Supreme Court of Canada, in addition to the Margot Bentley decision at the BC Court of Appeal. Most of the information available online is academic and focuses on what this means for legislatures (law-makers), but these decisions have implications for Canadians, and people in British Columbia. Different changes to the law could be made across Canada and in each province. …

Labour Pains
Opinion: Seeking Retail Honesty

Can we all be honest with one another for a moment? Yesterday’s fight over which retail establishments could open and which could not was about one issue and one issue only: which businesses had the right to make money yesterday and which were precluded. Some have taken the position that the rules on who can open are arbitrary. The rules are not arbitrary; they are clearly deliberate. The law establishes clear criteria on the tourism criteria that must be met before a municipality may pass an exempting by-law under subsection 4 (1) of the Retail Business Holidays Act. … …

Blogue du CR
Ce n’est pas le rôle des tribunaux de réprimer le « nivelage de la culture par le bas »

Dans Guimont c. RNC Média inc. (CHOI-FM), 2015 QCCA 569, la Cour d’appel rejette l’appel d’un jugement qui rejette la requête introductive d’instance en diffamation intentée par l’appelant contre les intimées, deux stations radiophoniques, pour des propos tenus en ondes suite à son « arrestation spectaculaire » le 3 décembre 2008, laquelle a donné lieu à une couverture médiatique intense. …

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