As published in CBA Municipal Law Section
With great fanfare, the Province of British Columbia in December 2018 released a new climate action strategy known as the CleanBC plan. A primary objective of the CleanBC strategy is for every new car sold in B.C. to be a zero emission vehicle by 2040. A zero emission vehicle is one that has no tailpipe emissions and runs on a fuel cell or battery…
As published in CBA Municipal Law Section
Elected officials of local governments are required to exercise the duties and powers of the local government in different manners, depending on the nature of the matter at hand. When council or board members are exercising the local government’s business powers…
As published in BUILD Magazine 2019/2020
Imagine yourself facing criminal charges and the stigma of a criminal conviction, or serving jail time and paying a hefty fine. Could you have done something differently to avoid such consequences?
This article chronicles five decisions where criminal convictions were handed down for workplace accidents since a broader regime of criminal liability under the Criminal Code was brought into force in 2004…
As published in CBA Municipal Law Section
Social media is a source of both opportunities and liabilities for local governments as service providers and employers. Social media differs from traditional media in that, instead of a oneway broadcast by trained professionals who abide by journalistic codes or ethics and have editors to provide objective review of content for accuracy and compliance with journalistic codes and ethics, social media involves a two-way platform that is available and accessible by anyone with a computer, with no editorial overview. Social media is much further reaching than traditional media used to be, as the content can be disseminated globally in an instant…
As published in Roadrunner Fall 2018:
Construction bonds are commonly used for public works infrastructure projects. Broadly speaking, a bond is a three-party agreement between the bonding company (the “Surety”), the service provider, such as a general or subcontractor (the “Principal” or “contractor”) and the service recipient or beneficiary, such as the project owner (the “Obligee” or “owner”). Under the bond, the Surety is required to step in and fulfill the Principal’s obligations to the Obligee in the event that the Principal breaches its obligations…
Revenue from taxes on land and improvements are the life blood of municipal services. As such, it is not surprising that each of Canada’s provinces and territories have enacted legislation to authorize not only the imposition and collection of such “property taxes,” but also to secure their collection. While there are some differences in the statutory language between jurisdictions, the various provincial and territorial statutes dealing with municipal and…
As published in Roadrunner Summer 2018:
The provincial and federal governments, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) have officially stated that climate change is having an impact on local governments and their infrastructure due to increased extreme weather events and a rise in sea levels. The legal liability risks of climate change impacts include potential negligence claims, nuisance claims and regulatory liability…