Delighted that the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal in Democracy Watch this morning. decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/news... I am looking forward to representing Democracy Watch on the appeal along with Sujit Choudhry!

Some thoughts here on whether the Commission’s decision is legally defensible. It certainly considered the effect on Charter rights but perhaps could and should have said more: www.administrativelawmatters.com/blog/2025/04...

An interesting day at the office beckons for the Federal Court duty judge…

Is there any other jurisdiction where issues like this are decided in a matter of days without oral argument on the so-called shadow docket? Even if the Trump administration has respectable arguments in some of these cases, the process is surely ill-suited to the resolution of complex legal issues

Against the backdrop of a tariff war with the US, Canadian courts have been asked to consider whether proroguing Parliament at such a critical period was lawful. In my view, the courts will not intervene on this occasion, grave and all as it is: www.administrativelawmatters.com/blog/2025/02...

Looking forward to this event this evening! Here is why I think the legal challenge to the Trudeau prorogation will fail: www.administrativelawmatters.com/blog/2025/02... Lots of interesting questions about jurisdiction, justiciability, unwritten constitutional principles and deference.

No “own motion” duty in discretion fettering cases administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/01/31/n...

Over the course of this week the @ukcla.bsky.social will publish the fantastic contributions to an event I organised in July last year. Below you can find my introduction to the series. I will use this thread to highlight the individual posts. It should be of interest not just to lawyers, but to /1

Excellent overview of the prorogation litigation here!

Prorogation litigation update 🚨 A rare Saturday decision from the Federal Court granting the applicants’ motion to expedite. February 13-14 are the hearing dates for the challenge to the lawfulness of the Trudeau prorogation. Impressive speed from Crampton CJ! cdn.cyberimpact.com/clients/4235...

Are today’s courts bastions of principle in a turbulent world, or staffed by unelected philosopher kings out of touch with the concerns of ordinary citizens? That’s the theme of this series: I’m looking forward to diving in and hope you can join us. www.administrativelawmatters.com/blog/2024/08...

On Feb 26th, @tricondublin.bsky.social Director - Prof @aileenkavanagh.bsky.social - will contribute to this hybrid seminar series on ‘The Legitimacy of Judicial Review’ organised by Prof @pauldalyesq.bsky.social @uottawa.bsky.social

Happy to say registration for this year’s online Administrative Law & Governance Colloquium on “Justifying Judicial Review” is now open. Featuring: Jason Allen, Paolo Sandro, Roberto Gargarella, Aileen Kavanagh, Rosalind Dixon and Cora Chan. Sign up below! www.eventbrite.ca/e/administra...

This year’s Administrative Law & Governance Colloquium is not to be missed ⬇️

Are today’s courts bastions of principle in a turbulent world, or staffed by unelected philosopher kings out of touch with the concerns of ordinary citizens? That’s the theme of this series: I’m looking forward to diving in and hope you can join us. www.administrativelawmatters.com/blog/2024/08...

Happy to say registration for this year’s online Administrative Law & Governance Colloquium on “Justifying Judicial Review” is now open. Featuring: Jason Allen, Paolo Sandro, Roberto Gargarella, Aileen Kavanagh, Rosalind Dixon and Cora Chan. Sign up below! www.eventbrite.ca/e/administra...

After Justin Trudeau's announcement that 🇨🇦 Parliament would be prorogued until March 24, a judicial review application was filed challenging the prorogation. VANESSA MACDONNELL (vanessamacdonnell.bsky.social) on what we know about the legal challenge so far. verfassungsblog.de/canada-proro...

🎉 We’re excited to celebrate the achievements of our faculty members who were honoured in the #2024Clawbies the Canadian Law Blog Awards recognizing the best online Canadian legal content from the past year. 👏 Learn more: bit.ly/4hbOflf @jcyliew.bsky.social @pauldalyesq.bsky.social

And there is a court challenge to yesterday’s prorogation: www.jccf.ca/canadians-ch... Notably the applicants make an effort to cast their challenge in terms of the principles set out by the United Kingdom Supreme Court in striking down Boris Johnson’s prorogation in the Miller 2 decision.

And there is a court challenge to yesterday’s prorogation: www.jccf.ca/canadians-ch... Notably the applicants make an effort to cast their challenge in terms of the principles set out by the United Kingdom Supreme Court in striking down Boris Johnson’s prorogation in the Miller 2 decision.

NEW POST: A valid prorogation, however unusual. emmettmacfarlane.substack.com/p/a-valid-pr...

Parliament has now been prorogued. A few thoughts on the prorogation discussion involving @pauldalyesq.bsky.social, @plagasse.bsky.social, and @doubleaspect.blog on (1) the facts around the prorogation, (2) a possible legal challenge, and (3) the persuasiveness of the UK decision in Miller II. 1/n

Given the PM’s announcement this morning, emphasizing (1) the paralyzed Parliament, (2) deadlock over privilege, (3) an imminent confidence vote on March 28 and (4) the need for an orderly leadership contest, I don’t think any court challenge would be successful.

New blog post: there are serious legal impediments to courts invalidating an eventual prorogation of the Canadian Parliament. Whether it will stop the (not good chap) judges is another matter. doubleaspect.blog/2025/01/04/g...

Could a Trudeau prorogation be challenged in court? Quite likely and, depending on the circumstances, potentially quite plausible. www.administrativelawmatters.com/blog/2025/01...

Here's the ABlawg year in review: 85 posts, and 150,382 visits from 62,509 visitors this year and several citations of ABlawg posts by the courts including the SCC, @jwatsonhamilton.bsky.social and @jenniferkoshan.bsky.social #ableg #abpoli

A very nice surprise — and a great start to 2025 — to find myself in the Hall of Fame, joining my colleague @mgeist.bsky.social and many other luminaries of the law blogging world

Something similar could be said by a judge to a legal academic — courts must acknowledge consequences in a way that commentators need not

Happy Birthday to Vavilov! Five years old today, very much alive, kicking and looking forward to a long, healthy life. www.administrativelawmatters.com/blog/2024/12...

And here is a question: Judicial salaries are fixed by independent commissions: this is a constitutional requirement grounded in judicial independence. Shouldn’t the same be true of adequate funding for the judiciary? It is a bad look for judges to have to rattle the begging bowl publicly.

Hard agree on this. As a tribunal member (albeit one with a very modest annual workload) I benefit enormously from support services provided by the ATSSC. It makes my job much easier. Many superior court judges do not have comparable resources. It makes their jobs much harder.

Constitutional Limits on the Administrative State: Galderma Canada Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General), 2024 FCA 208 www.administrativelawmatters.com/blog/2024/12...

Heh, I don’t know about bonkers but at the hearing we knew we were all talking about “jurisdiction”, even if we kept using synonyms — boundaries, limits, lawful authority. If such a thing exists, this case involved a “true” jurisdictional question.

Significant new decision from the Federal Court of Appeal on patent regulation. A typically readable opinion by Stratas JA, with colourful language about the need for the Patented Medicines Prices Review Board to respect the constitutional and legal limits on its jurisdiction. canlii.ca/t/k870w

Love the weekly pieces by @tim-stillman.bsky.social on the incomparable @arseblog.com This one channeling the Art of War is a classic of the genre!

In a new paper for a forthcoming collection on the challenges of AI for public sector governance, I assess the use of AI in administrative tribunals. I am cautiously optimistic about AI in this particular setting, but I also urge careful, contextual analysis: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

In a new paper for a forthcoming collection on the challenges of AI for public sector governance, I assess the use of AI in administrative tribunals. I am cautiously optimistic about AI in this particular setting, but I also urge careful, contextual analysis: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Reminds me of the line attributed to the Irish writer Brendan Behan: “I arrived in Toronto and I saw a sign saying ‘Drink Canada Dry’, and so I did my best”

This is a very useful analysis of a novel use of a statutory power — one of those situations where some clever counsel blows the dust off a forgotten chapter of the Revised Statutes of Canada and upsets long-settled expectations. The s107 litigation will be interesting to watch.

Huh, an actual lawsuit based on “vibes”.

Administrative law is “the law of everything”. Today is no exception. Started with Crown corporations. Then a session with government lawyers on considering Charter values in ministerial decision-making. And after a nice grab bag of landlord & tenant, insurance and professional discipline law!

Had great fun this am talking about Crown corporations and the postal strike with CBC Radio in New Brunswick. Hopefully useful for those interested in the inherent tensions Crown corporations confront. Certainly useful for anyone interested in how I sound at 6.30am… www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Here's a starter pack of Public and Constitutional Law BSky accounts. It's mostly UK and Commonwealth lawyers/blogs, including some parliamentary people and govt lawyers. I've got a much longer list too (which includes US lawyers/blogs) go.bsky.app/25qHVZa

Here is a very interesting decision from the Federal Court (in French) on the exclusion of judicial review. Roy J held that it was not 'plain and obvious' that the right to seek judicial review had been removed by transitional provisions in legislation: decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fc-cf/decisi...

Regulation makers often discriminate between people and classes of company, property owner and land. A persistent question is whether such discrimination is authorized and justifiable. The Supreme Court of Canada addressed this question last week: www.administrativelawmatters.com/blog/2024/11...

Shout out to @anuragdeb.bsky.social Lewis Graham and Gabriel Tan on their excellent new admin law blog. Wouldn’t have known about the important gas caverns case without having subscribed. You should too! www.administrativelawmatters.com/blog/2024/11...

A very nice overview of the Auer decision by Dale. Here is my in-depth take on this highly significant case, the implications of which will take time to tease out: www.administrativelawmatters.com/blog/2024/11...

For the evening crowd, my latest for National Magazine on yesterday’s #SCC decision about the standard of review for challenging government regulations #cdnlaw #cdnpoli