Energy projects in Canada are of enormous public interest, with significant economic, social, and environmental affects. The National Energy Board Act allowed for the National Energy Board to provide a report for the certification of a pipeline, with recommendations to the Governor in Council, while considering the following relevant factors:

• (a) the availability of oil, gas or any other commodity to the pipeline;

• (b) the existence of markets, actual or potential;

• (c) the economic feasibility of the pipeline;

• (d) the financial responsibility and financial structure of the applicant, the methods of financing the pipeline and the extent to which Canadians

Every week we present the summary of a decision handed down by a Québec court provided to us by SOQUIJ and considered to be of interest to our readers throughout Canada. SOQUIJ is attached to the Québec Department of Justice and collects, analyzes, enriches, and disseminates legal information in Québec.

AGRICULTURE : Les demanderesses ont aménagé des «BlockchainDomes» sur un emplacement en zone agricole sans l’autorisation de la CPTAQ et prétendent qu’elles exercent un usage agricole puisqu’un de leurs dômes est raccordé à une serre où, grâce à une partie de la chaleur dégagée par l’équipement informatique, elles cultivent des . . . [more]

Each Friday, we share the latest job listings from Slaw Jobs, which features employment opportunities from across the country. Find out more about these positions by following the links below, or learn how you can use Slaw Jobs to gain valuable exposure for your job ads, while supporting the great Canadian legal commentary at Slaw.ca.

Current postings on Slaw Jobs (newest first):

• • Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor (International Economic Law ) (Full-time) | Ottawa, ON
    (University of Ottawa)
  • Assistant Professor or Associate Professor (Business, Tax Law) (Full-time) | Ottawa, ON
    (University of Ottawa)

The Atrium debacle has now moved out of the legal innovation news cycle having been mostly savaged (and rightly so) for its lack of understanding of the market it purported to serve, its inability to learn from the past, and a seemingly waste of investor money. It remains a sad example of how an entity built solely around hype is able to gain huge profile and raise massive amounts of money with no reasonable ROI, while entities doing really good work impacting far more people (on a shoestring!) are largely ignored.

One of the claims made on Twitter during the . . . [more]

The Alberta Fair Registration Practices Act is proclaimed in force on March 1, 2020, to speed up the process of newcomers getting their credentials recognized so they can work in the careers they trained for, and remove unfair barriers. . . . [more]

Research in New Zealand sheds light on commercial mediation in that country, and highlights the lack of hard data on mediation in Canada.

Grant Morris, law professor at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, published From Anecdote to Evidence: The New Zealand Commercial Mediation Market, in 2017.

(Hat tip to mediator/arbitrator Rick Weiler (@Medarbman) for retweeting a commentary on the NZ paper from a US bankruptcy attorney, which drew my attention to this interesting research.)

Professor Morris’s research project surveyed and interviewed commercial mediators. New Zealand is a relatively small country, so the numbers for this research were quite . . . [more]

Each Wednesday we tell you which three English-language cases and which French-language case have been the most viewed* on CanLII and we give you a small sense of what the cases are about.

For this last week:

1. R. v. Nikirk, 2020 BCPC 10 (CanLII)

[1] It must be remembered that accidents happen, sometimes accidents with catastrophic consequences solely as a result of negligence and not as a result of criminal behaviour. Neither the consequences of the accident, nor the severity of the injuries caused by that accident, define the criminal responsibility of the driver of the vehicle at . . . [more]

I recently announced my intention to step aside as the Director of the NSRLP at the end of 2020. The primary reason is my health (I have cancer). I intend to spend the next year fundraising, to ensure the longevity and stability of the NSRLP as a permanent not-for-profit organization. This blog reflects our thinking about the core work of the NSRLP as we embark on an effort to secure its future – Julie Macfarlane

Why does there need to be a permanent national organization interacting directly with both the public and justice system professionals?

The only way the justice . . . [more]

In yet another lesson in what you need to reveal when obtaining life insurance, the Ontario Court of Appeal has wasted little time in telling your beneficiary they’re out of luck when you fail to reveal information that your life expectancy might be affected by your prior terrorist activities. In Mohammad v. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, the Court of Appeal held because Fadia Khalil Mohammad’s husband had failed to reveal a material fact on the application for life insurance, the contract was voidable and therefore Manulife was entitled not to pay her the proceeds of the policy. The . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Titles
Neil Guthrie

Not of books, but of dignitaries. Judges: Stephen Waddams observes in Introduction to the Study of Law (my edition is 1992) that it is not proper to refer to a judge as Your Honour (or My Lord/Lady, where that is still used) outside the courtroom. …

Practice

Find Articling/Summer Students With the CPLED Student Resume Directory
Law Society of Saskatchewan Library

CPLED is . . . [more]

Most law firms intuitively understand the value of mentoring. Unfortunately, that rarely translates into a successful mentoring program. Here’s what’s wrong with them, and how to fix them.

There are so many skills a young lawyer needs to develop in their formational years, and so little time in which to do so. Additionally, it’s so easy for a young lawyer to make a misstep that might cost them their future at the firm. It just makes sense to pair younger lawyers with more seasoned ones who can watch over them, shorten the learning curve and speak up for them within . . . [more]