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 more than 80 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. Blogue SOQUIJ 2. Canadian Appeals Monitor 3. Sunday Night Administrative Review 4. Le Blogue du CRL 5. ABlawg.ca

Blogue SOQUIJ
Accident survenu à l’occasion du travail: la Cour d’appel tranche

Le 31 juillet dernier, la Cour d’appel du Québec a rendu une décision importante en matière d’accident du travail. Elle a déterminé, à la majorité, que l’accident ayant coûté la vie à un travailleur agricole était survenu à l’occasion de son travail, ouvrant ainsi la voie au versement d’une indemnité à sa famille par la Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST). Cet événement tragique a fait la une des journaux et a suscité beaucoup de réactions. Dans ce billet, je vous propose un bref survol de la décision du plus haut tribunal de la province afin d’en faire ressortir certains éléments. …

Canadian Appeals Monitor
Out of Its Lane? Ontario Court Creates Constitutional Right to a Bike Lane

In Cycle Toronto et al. v. Attorney General of Ontario et al.,^[1] the Superior Court of Justice struck down a provision of the Highway Traffic Act^[2] providing for the removal of bike lanes on Yonge St., University Ave., and Bloor St. between the Bloor Viaduct and Resurrection Road in Etobicoke (the “Provision”) under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.^[3]Justice Schabas remarked that “[f]or some, the connection between bicycle lanes and the Charter may be surprising.”^[4] It should be. …

Sunday Night Administrative Review
Issue #187: July 27, 2025

Context: Lorval sought review of Langley’s Community Amenity Contributions Policy [CAC Policy]. The Policy “provides the administrative guidelines by which the Township negotiates civic amenity contributions from those seeking to rezone commercial, industrial, and residential lands” [2]. In other words, the Policy seeks to leverage contributions from developers to defray costs of enhanced services and developments involving new zoning [36, 45]. Lorval argued, among other things, that this Policy was beyond Langley’s legal authority because …

Le Blogue du CRL
Morissette c. Poirier, 2025 QCCS 2291

PROCÉDURE CIVILE : Les allégations dont le défendeur demande la radiation au motif qu’elles seraient protégées par le privilège relatif aux règlements ne peuvent être radiées puisqu’elles ne révèlent pas une intention présumée de confidentialité, soit l’une des 4 conditions nécessaires à l’application du privilège; il appartenait au défendeur de prendre les précautions requises pour s’assurer que ses démarches avaient un caractère confidentiel et visaient sans équivoque à régler le litige. …

ABlawg.ca
When Is An Interest In Land A Legal (As Opposed To An Equitable) Interest?

The principal issue in this case by the time the matter reached the Court of Appeal was the question of whether a gross overriding royalty (GORR) carved out of an Alberta Crown petroleum and natural gas (png) lease was a legal or an equitable interest in land. Justice Michel Bourque at trial (2023 ABQB 11) concluded that the GORR in question was an interest in land (applying Bank of Montreal v Dynex Petroleum Ltd, 2002 SCC 7 aff’g 1999 ABCA 363). Furthermore, Justic Bourque went on to conclude that the GORR was a legal interest in land. The GORR was therefore binding on Yangarra as the successor in interest to the Crown png lease, even though Yangarra had no notice of PrairieSky’s GORR. ….

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