In late May, the Supreme Court of Canada (the SCC) denied an application for leave to appeal a decision of the Court of Appeal of Alberta (the ABCA), which, in turn, had denied leave to appeal of the decision of the Court of...more
A recent decision out of the Alberta Court of Appeal found that as soon as a company handed over their investigative reports to regulators in connection with a pipeline incident, privilege over the reports was lost....more
This week’s highly anticipated decision of the Alberta Court of Appeal in Qualex-Landmark Towers Inc v 12-10 Capital Corp, 2024 ABCA 115 [Qualex] limits the application of Orphan Well Association v Grant Thornton Ltd, 2019...more
4/11/2024
/ Canada ,
Contaminated Properties ,
Environmental Liability ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Remediation Costs ,
Land Developers ,
Land Owners ,
Property Damage ,
Property Owners ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Site Remediation
The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has confirmed that the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Orphan Well Association v. Grant Thornton Ltd., 2019 SCC 5 [Redwater], applies in Saskatchewan. The Court of Appeal also affirmed...more
As discussed in our previous blog post, Unpaid Municipal Taxes Will Impact New AER Licenses and License Transfers, the Alberta Minister of Energy released Ministerial Order 043/2023 (the Order) on March 16, 2023. The Order...more
In December 2022, the Alberta legislature passed a bill allowing for an increase to the limit on civil claims in the Alberta Court of Justice (formerly, the Provincial Court of Alberta and sometimes referred to as "small...more
The Court of King's Bench for Saskatchewan has rejected another attempt by a rural municipality to gain priority in an oil and gas receivership. This follows the recent Alberta Decision in Orphan Well Association v Trident...more
On March 20, 2023, the Alberta Minister of Energy, Peter Guthrie, released ministerial order 043/2023 (the Order). The Order, authorized pursuant to the Responsible Energy Development Act, requires the Alberta Energy...more
Two recent insolvencies have resulted in the number of orphaned wells and facilities in Saskatchewan ballooning to over 4000. To reduce the burden on the Saskatchewan orphan fund, The Oil and Gas Tenure Registry Regulations...more
The Court of King's Bench of Alberta recently applied the long-standing principle that labour arbitrators have exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate disputes arising under a collective agreement, even in the context of an...more
2/6/2023
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Health and Safety ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
While the popularity of zombies in film and popular culture has grown exponentially in the last decade, participants in the Western Canadian oil patch have increasingly been dealing with a different kind of zombie—"zombie...more
Potash is a critical mineral used as a replenishing agricultural fertilizer. As a result, millions of farmers around the world depend on potash. The Canadian province of Saskatchewan is the world's largest potash producer,...more
One of the main benefits to a purchaser who buys oil and gas assets in a proceeding under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act or a receivership is the near-absolute quieting of title via a "vesting order." In Manitok...more
The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) is continuing to revise and supplement its holistic approach to regulating. The AER released revisions to Manual 023 effective May 3, 2022, which supplements Directive 088: Licensee...more
In Perez-Nana v Cargill Limited, 2022 ABQB 283, the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench considered a sequencing application. Guided by efficiency and fairness, the Court refused to hear the motion to strike the claim or portions...more
In Smith v Lafarge Canada Inc, 2022 ABQB 289 [Smith], the Court of Queen's Bench considered a preliminary application arising out of a proposed class action which involved claims advanced on behalf of the proposed class as...more
Parallel class actions, filed in different Canadian jurisdictions under different provincial class action statutes, erode the efficiency that class actions are meant to facilitate, and risk duplicative proceedings and...more
On March 30, 2022, the Alberta Court of Appeal issued its much anticipated decision in Manitok Energy Inc (Re), 2022 ABCA 117 [Manitok ABCA] which considered whether, as a result of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in...more
The Alberta Court of Appeal recently considered the latest Supreme Court of Canada decision on pure economic loss in a decision involving a proposed class action for damages related to a pipeline spill. In its decision, the...more
On January 25, 2022, Alberta Energy issued Mineral Rights Information Bulletin 2022-02 (Bulletin) setting out guidance for acquiring deep geothermal resource leases for stand-alone geothermal operations in Alberta....more
On December 8, 2021, Alberta proclaimed in force Bill 77, the Municipal Government (Restoring Tax Accountability) Amendment Act, 2021 (the Amending Act), which is intended to strengthen municipal budgets following reports by...more
The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) has released Directive 088: Licensee Life-Cycle Management, which finalizes the draft Licensee Life-Cycle Management Directive (Draft LLCM Directive) for energy infrastructure and sites...more
Demand for rare earth and critical minerals like lithium, uranium, nickel and vanadium is growing worldwide. Recently, the government of Alberta has taken steps to position the province as a contributor to this emerging...more
The Government of Saskatchewan has recently implemented a number of regulatory changes to assist energy projects. These changes further expand and refine the Ministry of Energy and Resources 2019 Petroleum Innovation...more
Nearly a year ago, the Government of Alberta announced its new Liability Management Plan. Through this plan, the Alberta Government provided the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) with additional tools to ensure that sites are...more