¶ Published Wednesday, June 16th In Environment, Legal Issues - No Comments »
I recently got a chance to follow up with environmental lawyer Dianne Saxe on the upcoming changes to the Ontario Environmental Approvals process. We had done an interview a couple months ago, but with the changes now in proposed acts, it was time to follow up. Click here to learn more about our regular environmental updates. The changes to the approvals process should make Ontario business’ lives a bit easier, but it also imposes much more serious responsibilities on the shoulders of corporate directors. The fines that you may face, should you not respect your permits, are substantial and muchRead the Rest…
¶ Published Tuesday, June 8th In Environment, Legal Issues, Video - No Comments »
I recently got the chance to sit down with Richard Girard of the Polaris institute in Ottawa. He has just released a corporate profile of oil pipeline giant Enbridge. We run through his findings, how the pipelines are compromising the environmental health and safety of local communities and the ties between government and industry. Our interview went a bit long, but we go through a lot of interesting issues surrounding the extraction, transportation and use of oil in the Canadian west. You can download the full Corporate Profile Report here. TarSands Watch Polaris Institute While we primarily service industry, itRead the Rest…
¶ Published Tuesday, June 1st In Environment, Legal Issues, Video - 1 Comment »
Yves Faguy recently had a chance to interview Laura Zizzo from Zizzo Allan Climate Law LLP. They talked about the Kerry Lieberman bill, European ETS, and voluntary credits. If you want to get a sense of how your business may be affected by climate law, take a look at this 14 minute video.
¶ Published Tuesday, May 18th In Environment, Legal Issues - No Comments »
Below is my interview (in French) with Hervé Pageot, of Daigneault Avocats Inc., who discusses Quebec’s proposed regulations that would impose fees for water use in the province. The fees, two to three times higher than similar fees in Ontario, would apply to use of both ground water and water from municipal distribution systems. Interestingly, actions that result in the decrease or diversion of underground water would also be subject to the fees. Targeted industries are the water-bottling sector, mineral and oil & gas extraction, as well as 21 other types of manufacturers, including food and beverages producers, the tobaccoRead the Rest…
¶ Published Tuesday, April 6th In Legal Issues - No Comments »
Here are two great talks on desperate needs to overhaul the legal system. First, let’s attack the use of legal jargon in and around the law: Next, we need a deeper change that places more responsibility and flexibility in the interpretation of the law, making it more human.
¶ Published Tuesday, March 30th In Environment, Legal Issues, Video - 1 Comment »
I recently had a chance to sit down with Dianne Saxe, a top environmental lawyer in Toronto to discuss the proposed changes to the approvals system in Ontario. Here is our video, take a look at the links and transcript below for full details, and don’t forget to visit her great blog here. 1. Tell us about Ontario’s “Proposed Framework for Modernizing Environmental Approvals”. What’s the intent behind it? 2. Practically, what will it mean for businesses? How do you expect the proposed framework to change the rules for businesses required to get permits? 3. Can we expect that business will haveRead the Rest…
¶ Published Tuesday, March 23rd In Environment, Legal Issues, Video - No Comments »
The Ontario Mining act is undergoing a lot of changes. The government aims to bring it into the 21st century with more consultations, more rights for native communities and online staking. To digest the changes, Morris Popowich, LLB, of Macleod Dixon answered my questions from his Toronto office. Take a look at the video below to understand what is coming down the pipeline. Transcript is below the video. 1. What is the principal aim of the amendments to the Mining Act? The government has stated that the purpose of the amendments is to bring Ontario’s mining legislation into harmony withRead the Rest…
¶ Published Tuesday, February 23rd In Environment, Legal Issues - No Comments »
Treating toxic waste is very expensive. So, some less than savoury companies hire ships to carry their waste and then… the ship mysteriously sinks! Who could imagine? To bring light to this issue, a new mash-up of shipping data exposes some questionable losses. “In Fondo Al Mar“, or At the Bottom of the Sea, illustrates the ships, their contents and their location of sinking. Ships contained marble (which is used to hide nuclear waste), toxic sludge and various mining ores – great fish food. Not only do fish die, but there are numerous reports of hazardous waste leading to civilRead the Rest…
¶ Published Saturday, December 19th In Environment, Legal Issues - No Comments »
Not sure how productive Copenhagen was, but this blow by blow account of the negotiations has Obama getting down in the trenches and making things happen, good read. Any agreement on emissions targets has two very large issues to confront: Attaining the targets and Verification of claims that targets were met. For example, most countries signed onto Kyoto, but pretty much none have reached the goals set out under the document. In fact, Europe has had carbon emissions increase, so what does this say about the power of these “binding” agreements. If no one enforces the application of an agreement,Read the Rest…
¶ Published Tuesday, December 8th In Environment, Legal Issues - 1 Comment »
Just came across a great website for legal resources on many subjects, Legal Tree, a collaborative website with links to sites, books and articles. See their environmental page here.
¶ Published Sunday, December 6th In Legal Issues - No Comments »
LegalTree.ca is an open website where people can add legal articles, books, links and other items in pre-defined legal categories. They have a lot of content and some useful items. If you are doing legal research in Canada, do visit their site.
¶ Published Wednesday, November 18th In Legal Issues - No Comments »
Google has just unveiled a system to display laws, case rulings and citations. Modelled after much of the work at the various LIIs around the world, this system helps make american legal opinion much more accessible. From Google, We think this addition to Google Scholar will empower the average citizen by helping everyone learn more about the laws that govern us all. To understand how an opinion has influenced other decisions, you can explore citing and related cases using the Cited by and Related articles links on search result pages. As you read an opinion, you can follow citations to the opinionsRead the Rest…
¶ Published Wednesday, October 14th In Environment, Legal Issues - No Comments »
Too often, small or ugly animals receive less attention than their large or furry cousins. This phenomenon leads to the extinction of ugly ducklings and the over protection of baby seals. The EcoJustice lawyers have scored a major victory by proving the government was contravening its own laws by refusing to recognize the habitat of an endangered species, the Nooksack dace minnow. Article here. Larger animals rely on smaller ones for food, so it is important to protect all levels of the food chain, not just the large furry creatures. From the article linked to above: “This string of successful lawsuitsRead the Rest…
¶ Published Thursday, September 24th In Environment, Legal Issues - No Comments »
Ontario Gets Even Tougher On Hazardous and General Waste Manufacturers, trucking companies and disposal sites handling waste must ensure that they don’t harm human health and safety or the environment. If they don’t, they could see life through an iron curtain. – By Isaac Rudik at Compliance Solutions Canada, a Nimonik partner When it comes to insisting that businesses properly store and dispose of hazardous and other wastes, Ontario’s Ministry of Environment isn’t fooling around. Ian Herd, apparently the sole owner of a numbered Ontario corporation, failed to properly clean up soil-contaminated property he purchased near St. Catherine’s after beingRead the Rest…
¶ Published Tuesday, September 22nd In Legal Issues, Video - No Comments »
We just put together a short video that tries to explain the new remediation certificates in Alberta, please leave your comment bellow. Much more information on the new requirements is available at www.nimonikapp.ca
