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…
For anyone involved with purchasing within a local government organization, talk of social procurement has unlikely gone unheard. It is a growing topic of discussion and interest, and we are seeing more and more communities embracing it and organizations taking steps to implement it into their purchasing policies. This article touches on the evolution of procurement that has led to the introduction of social impact purchasing, and discusses the approach that local governments may take to establish the practice within their own organization…
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…
The obligation to either negotiate or perform in “good faith” is found in many commercial agreements. While these are “big picture” concepts, they can have very real implications when a dispute arises. In recent years, the Supreme Court of Canada and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice have issued judgments that provide guidance on what commercial behavior Canada’s common law courts may, or may not, find acceptable…
Like other jurisdictions across the country, British Columbia is at risk for numerous emergencies and disasters, including flooding, forest fires, severe water shortages, tsunamis, storm surges, landslides, avalanches, power outages, hazardous material spills and disease outbreaks. While emergency planning and response is a shared responsibility across all levels of government, citizens largely depend on and expect local governments to provide effective, coordinated response in local emergency situations…
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…
If you are like me, you may have been following with interest the SNC Lavalin story. At the centre of the controversy is a legal issue that is often difficult to discern amongst the partisan rhetoric that usually accompanies political discourse…
The release of the Court of Appeal’s decision in Wu v. Vancouver (City) has been highly anticipated by municipal lawyers. If denied, the appeal would have established a duty for municipal officials to make decisions on development permits within a reasonable time. The trial judge found that…
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…
The matter of 0826239 B.C. Ltd. v. Richmond (City), 2018 BCSC 1438 (CanLII) involved a business owner planning to operate an agricultural greenhouse facility within the City of Richmond and seeking building permits from the City to construct the greenhouses for the operation. The dispute is seeded in lands that are part of the Agricultural Land Reserve (“ALR“). The issue before the court was whether the City…