Chief Justice McLachlin, for a unanimous Supreme Court of Canada (7-0), has confirmed that Canada’s municipal councils are entitled to consider a wide range of factors when making a decision with respect to the make-up of a particular taxation bylaw. What’s more, McLachlin CJ makes it clear that a municipal council need not provide formal [...]

Last Friday, the SCC released their decision in Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) v. Khosa, 2009 SCC 12. This immigration law case gave the court an opportunity to revisit some of the principles espoused in last year’s landmark administrative law case of Dunsmuir v. New Brunswick, 2008 SCC 9. The facts and lower court decisions have [...]

‘By reading the characteristic features of any man’s castles in the air you can make a shrewd guess as to his underlying desires which are frustrated’ – John Dewey What’s in a name? Apparently, quite a lot. In Dunsmuir v. New Brunswick, 2008 SCC 9, a majority of the Supreme Court of Canada has reformed [...]

On Friday, March 7, 2008, the Supreme Court released Dunsmuir v. New Brunswick (2008 SCC 9), a stark reversal of the last decade of administrative law jurisprudence on the issue of the standard of review. This decision, while undoubtedly a landmark judgment, may change little about how courts review administrative action. I explore the reasons [...]

Last Friday, the SCC delivered a bombshell decision in Dunsmuir v. New Brunswick, 2008 SCC 9, changing the landscape of several areas of administrative law in one fell swoop. While we here at TheCourt.ca have lined up some academics to comment on the consequences of this case, I thought I’d take today to pull out [...]

One of the most significant challenges currently facing the SCC is to provide clarification on the approach the courts should take in their review of administrative decisions. While the pragmatic and functional approach developed to determine the proper standard of review has provided more flexibility to courts to review administrative decisions on an individual basis, [...]

During a visit to Ottawa last Tuesday, I sat in on the SCC’s hearing of Dunsmuir v. New Brunswick (Board of Management). Although this case centers around whether non-unionized civil service employees may be dismissed with reasonable notice or pay in the absence of cause, there could also be implications for judicial review standards because [...]