The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) recently addressed the law with respect to government liability in negligence cases. It is a long standing principle in Canada that public authorities are generally immune from liability for core policy decisions. In Nelson (City of) v Marchi (“Nelson”), the SCC did not dramatically change the law, but rather […]
The phenomenon known as “renoviction” has garnered much attention on Prince Edward Island in recent years. On November 17, 2021, the Province of Prince Edward Island passed Bill 122, which implemented a two-year moratorium on the ability of landlords to evict tenants to renovate their occupied units. While the government of PEI is currently in […]
The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (“IRAC” or the “Commission”) is an independent quasi-judicial tribunal that, among other things, hears appeals relating to land use, including municipal and ministerial planning decisions, under the Planning Act and other provincial statutes . A 15-year review (2005-2020) of appeals of municipal planning decisions before the Commission shows that […]
Twelve years after the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment introduced a Canada-Wide Action Plan for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), it’s time for Nova Scotia to consider shifting the burden of waste management from municipalities to producers. In a traditional waste management system, municipalities are responsible for operating waste collection and management. With EPR […]
A 10 year review of appeals of municipal planning decisions before the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (UARB) shows that the UARB rarely overturns decisions of municipal councils and even more rarely if the appeal has been launched by interested citizens. Appeals by developers have been marginally more successful. But it would be wrong […]
2020 has been marked by a series of significant public health and economic actions by both the federal and provincial governments in Canada in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In developing these policies, governments engaged and continue to engage with business groups, unions, social groups, and non-governmental agencies in Canada. They have received and continue to receive solicited and unsolicited representations from the public, including businesses, as the policies and programs evolve.
There are good ways to govern, and not so good ways. Here are 10 steps that, if followed, will produce better outcomes for Municipal Council and Committee meetings.
Conventional wisdom holds that municipal consolidations facilitate economic growth and provide better services in a larger municipal unit. After the recent experience in Nova Scotia, we believe this to be true, but also recognize that securing the benefits will take both hard work and objective measurement.
This article was first published in Municipal World, Canada’s municipal magazine. NS Restructuring Offers New Model for Consolidation Nova Scotia’s first municipal consolidation in over 20 years is gaining attention as, potentially, a new model for consolidating two already stable and viable municipalities that are convinced they can achieve even more by coming together. The […]
On January 1, 2018, the Province of New Brunswick repealed the Municipalities Act and replaced it with the Local Governance Act.