Articles & Publications

Article, Staff | January 11, 2023 | David Giroday

Modernizing BC’s Privacy Laws: Mandatory Breach Notification Requirements and Privacy Management Programs for Public Bodies

On February 1, 2023 two significant amendments to British Columbia’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (“FOIPPA”) will come into force and which will have major impacts on public bodies handling and management of personal information:

  • The implementation of mandatory privacy breach notification requirements; and
  • The requirement for public bodies to implement a privacy management program.

To familiarize public bodies with these looming changes and to authorize their adoption into FOIPPA, the Government of British Columbia recently issued an order of the lieutenant governor in council and a ministerial direction from the Minister of Citizens’ Services, which outline the breach notification requirements and set out the necessary building blocks for the design of a privacy management program. These statutory changes are briefly summarized in this article.

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Publication, Staff | November 23, 2022 | David Giroday

Regulatory Requirements for Municipal Utility Corporations: Recommendations from the British Columbia Utilities Commission

In recent decades local government utility corporations have proliferated in British Columbia and provided a mechanism through which municipalities and regional districts have been able to provide energy utility services to its residents through a legally distinct corporate entity owned and operated by the local government.

With local governments increasingly electing to exercise their statutory authority under section 185 of the Community Charter to incorporate local government corporations as a vehicle through which they can provide energy utility services to its residents, inquiries into whether such local government corporations may be regulated under the Utilities Commission Act (the “Act”) or are exempt from its statutory requirements became a priority for the British Columbia Utilities Commission (the “Commission”).

On November 10, 2022, the Commission released the stage 1 report (the “Report”) of the Inquiry into the Regulation of Municipal Energy Utilities. The Report addresses (1) whether a local government corporation wholly owned and operated by a local government and providing energy utility services exclusively within that local government’s boundaries, meets the municipal exclusion set out in the Act and (2), if not, whether the provision of such energy services should be regulated under the Act.

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Article, Staff | August 3, 2022 | David Giroday

Special Committee to Review the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act: Transparency, Modernization and Risk Management

The British Columbia provincial government tabled a series of significant amendments to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the “Act”) that received royal assent on November 25, 2021 and which were intended to update this legislation to keep pace with technological and structural changes in the ways that public bodies in the province interact with and handle information.

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Publication, Staff | May 13, 2022 | David Giroday

The Return of Compulsory Certification in the Trades: The Skilled Trades BC Act and Impacts to British Columbia’s Construction Industry

Big changes are on the horizon for trade professionals and the construction industry in British Columbia following the enactment of the Skilled Trades BC Act (the “Act”) on March 10, 2022. The Act will replace the current Industry Training Authority Act. The current legislation is responsible for creating the “Industry Training Authority”, which has been the Crown agency responsible for managing and supporting trade training and apprenticeships in the province since 2003. This Crown agency will be transformed into the “SkilledTradesBC” (the “Corporation”) by the new Act. The Corporation will be responsible for the creation of a compulsory skilled trades certification regime for a number of trade professions. 

As published in the NRCA’s Northern Construction Connection May 2022 Newsletter, and VICA’s e-New.

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Publication, Staff | March 14, 2022 | David Giroday

Loss of Profit Claims and Cost Estimates: Clarification on How Future Losses are Proven

The planning and approval process, manpower, equipment, insurance, materials, and other associated costs related to building make construction projects a costly undertaking. Whether the owners are a public organization, private corporation, or individuals they will have some varying sensitivity to unanticipated changes in cost related to their project. As a result, disputes related to construction costs are a common cause of relationship breakdowns between owners and contractors and can serve as a catalyst for legal action.

As published in the NRCA’s Northern Construction Connection March 2022 Newsletter, and VICA’s e-New.

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