Posts by Laura Bowman

Mega Quarry win shows it’s time for major agricultural policy reform in Ontario

November 27th, 2012 by Laura Bowman

Last week Highland Companies announced plans to withdraw its application to build a quarry in Melancthon Ontario.  The “Mega Quarry” has been a rallying cry for local food and agriculture reform, as well as aggregates reform in Ontario.

Now is not a time for farmers, environmentalists and foodies to rest on their laurels.  Ontario’s agricultural policy needs big-time reform.  For far too long Ontario has badly neglected the agricultural sector on all fronts, financial, marketing, trade policy, land use protection, water policies, and from a food security perspective.  The Mega Quarry dispute highlighted many of these problems.

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How will CEAA review panels interpret “directly affected” and “interested party”? Alberta provides some clues

November 12th, 2012 by Laura Bowman

The new federal Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 (CEAA 2012) has adopted new criteria for standing at review panel hearings that includes the words “directly affected”.  The Kelly series of cases from Alberta help shed some light on the meaning of that requirement and how it might develop at the federal level.  Under CEAA 2012 review panels will decide what it means, but will be subject to supervision by the courts.

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Ontario Court of Appeal confirms broad scope of environmental protection in the Ontario Environmental Protection Act but Supreme Court of Canada hearing pending.

October 18th, 2012 by Laura Bowman

The Supreme Court of Canada recently granted leave to hear an important Environmental Protection Act case.  In Ontario (Environment) v. Castonguay Blasting Ltd., 2012 ONCA 165 (CanLII) Castonguay, a construction subcontractor caused fly rock to be flung 90 metres into the air during highway construction near Marmora, Ontario in 2007.  The fly rock caused damage to a nearby home and vehicle.

A year later, Castonguay was charged with failure to report the discharge of a contaminant under s.15(1) of the Ontario Environmental Protection Act (EPA).  This provision requires reporting of discharges of contaminants likely to cause an adverse effect to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, (MOE) so that it can be investigated and addressed accordingly.

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Construction and employment updates

October 16th, 2012 by Laura Bowman

Many of our clients blend the roles of developer, owner and employer in construction projects.  For those of you who wear these hats, there are some updates in the law that might interest you.

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Small and Rural Charities Initiative Update

October 15th, 2012 by Laura Bowman

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) completed its Joint Action Plan as part of the Small and Rural Charities Initiative.  The recommendations include more community-based, in-person service for small and rural charities through the development of community partnerships with umbrella groups, universities, or colleges, where feasible and providing a list of services available to charities in their communities (such as municipal benefits, pro-bono university legal services, etc.).  The CRA may also consider developing and distributing educational products, including a Roadshow (Charity Information Session) DVD to small and rural charities, as well as to newly registered charities, non-compliant charities, and other charities upon request.  The CRA will also consider promoting the development of community networks, to enable small and rural charities to communicate, share best practices, and learn from each other.  There is a full chart setting out the recommendations. For more information see the report The Small and Rural Charities: Making a Difference for Canadians.

Rural charities may have limited access to expertise and may need legal advice to get their organization into compliant condition.  Please contact us today to get assistance with CRA issues facing small and rural charities.

Jarvis Bike Lane Removal Exposes Serious Weaknesses in Municipal Class Approvals

October 12th, 2012 by Laura Bowman

The “Class EA” was introduced to the Ontario environmental assessment process shortly after the Ontario Environmental Assessment Act was passed, in 1976. The purpose of Class EAs was said to be to streamline approvals for undertakings that were similar in nature (i.e. belonging to the same ‘class’ of project) and that generally had predictable and easy to mitigate effects and therefore did not need full environmental assessments. Class assessments were immediately used for municipal infrastructure projects. Class EAs are an attempt to balance many competing policy factors including reducing the cost of municipal infrastructure, avoiding duplication with other municipal processes and the difficulty of predicting environmental effects on a class‑wide basis. However, strong pressures to exempt an ever growing array of projects from full environmental assessments have led to the growth of Class EAs, and Class EAs have come to dominate EA practices in Ontario by a wide margin.

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