The topic for the 2023 edition of the Administrative Law & Governance Colloquium was “The Legitimacy of the State”: The legitimacy of contemporary liberal democratic states is in a state of flux. Managing the effects of globalization, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and fighting escalating inflation have prompted serious questions about public administration in the […] Read more
In a previous post, I addressed the relationship between the notwithstanding clause and administrative law. Here I address a number of other relevant issues: the role of Charter values; the principles of judicial review of administrative action; and the relationship between legislation passed notwithstanding Charter rights and existing statutory schemes. Charter Values So much for […] Read more
The ‘notwithstanding’ clause of the Constitution of Canada (contained in s. 33 of the Constitution Act, 1982) provides as follows: 33 (1) Parliament or the legislature of a province may expressly declare in an Act of Parliament or of the legislature, as the case may be, that the Act or a provision thereof shall operate notwithstanding a […] Read more
I recently highlighted Professor Andrew Green’s paper on the effect — or not! — of Supreme Court of Canada decisions in administrative law. I am happier to report that a new paper published in Canadian Public Administration by David Said comes to the conclusion that the Court’s decisions can be significant: “Navigating entangled terrain: The […] Read more
I have posted a new paper to SSRN, “Administrative Tribunals in Canada: Constitutional Subordinates or Equal Partners“, a chapter in a forthcoming edited collection on Administrative Tribunals in the Common Law World. Here is the abstract: In this Chapter, I explore the tension between two propositions in Canadian public law. On the one hand, administrative […] Read more
