Despite the price of oil hovering near $50 per barrel, Shell Canada (“Shell”) has announced it will continue exploring off the coast of Nova Scotia. Shell, along with its partners in the Shelburne Basin exploration project, ConocoPhillips and Suncor, will adhere to their existing plans for this year and the next. Exploratory offshore drilling is expected to commence in 2015.
In this recent case, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia held that the Warden of the Municipality of the District of West Hants did not breach the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act (the “Act”) despite acting as a “go-between” between the Municipality and a friend in the purchase of a lot for an “apparently excessive price”.
Under what circumstances and at what point in time can or should the Court remove a lawful Attorney appointed under an Enduring Power of Attorney? This was the main issue which Justice Rosinski was required to address in the matter of Vernon v. Sutcliffe, 2014 NSSC 376.
Supreme Court of Canada to Consider Freedom of Association in Collective Bargaining Process provided background details regarding an upcoming decision of the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”). In short, currently the RCMP is prohibited from unionization.
Canadian copyright law is primarily governed by the federal Copyright Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42 (the “Act”). The Act was subject to some significant amendments by the Copyright Modernization Act, S.C. 2012, c. 20 (the “CMA”), and while most of the changes made by the CMA have already been in force for some time, the notice and notice regime created by the CMA for allegations of infringement only came into force in January 2015.
It is expected that on Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada will render a decision which will determine whether RCMP members have the right to form an independent association to handle collective bargaining with its employer, the Federal Government. Currently, RCMP members are represented by the Staff Relations Representation Program, an association imposed on them under the RCMP’s regulations.
We have written a number of times regarding cases that significantly depart from the so-called one month per year of service rule of thumb. Yet another case has illustrated the risk an employer runs in assuming their liability will be capped at one month per year of service.
Each province’s employment standards legislation provides for a wide array of leaves for which an employee may be eligible. New Brunswick’s Employment Standards Act (the “Act”) was amended on September 1, 2014 to provide for two new types of leaves related to children of employees: “Critical Illness Leave” and “Death or Disappearance Leave”.
It is a commonly held belief that employees must provide two weeks’ notice when they resign from their employment. However, this blanket statement does not necessarily reflect the applicable legal requirements. While two weeks’ notice is appropriate in many cases, some employees may be required to provide less notice, and other employees may be required to provide significantly more.
The Nova Scotia Occupational Health and Safety regime is undergoing a complete overhaul, with potential huge impacts for employers respecting cost of compliance and risk of liability. The changes are part of the five-year Workplace Safety Strategy, a joint initiative between the Department of Labour and Advanced Education and the Workers’ Compensation Board. The Strategy was developed in direct response to a recognition that the old system—a piecemeal assortment of rules and regulations—was tough to navigate and produced inconsistency in interpretation and enforcement.