2019

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The Vavilov Framework V: Concluding Thoughts

In my first post on the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Vavilov I described it as a commendable effort to comprehensively address two issues, namely the selection of the standard of review and the application of the reasonableness standard, which have plagued Canadian administrative law for decades. Significantly, judges with divergent views on the […] Read more

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The Vavilov Framework IV: Remedial Discretion

Despite occasional suggestions to the contrary, remedial discretion is a key feature of contemporary administrative law. In Vavilov, the majority discussed the issue at surprising length — surprising because although remedial discretion is by now a well-developed phenomenon, it is rarely the subject of detailed discussion.  The majority set out a variety of factors which […] Read more

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The Vavilov Framework III: Precedent

The Vavilov framework is intended to be a clear break with the past: “A court seeking to determine what standard is appropriate in a case before it should look to these reasons first in order to determine how this general framework applies to that case” (at para. 143). Given the reformulations effected in Vavilov, some […] Read more

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2020 Vision: Dunsmuir 2.0

In early 2015 I was scheduled to present a paper called “2020 Vision: Dunsmuir 2.0” to a judicial training seminar. I never made it to the seminar and the paper was never published: I submitted it to a leading Canadian journal but when it came back with a “revise and resubmit” I ultimately dropped it […] Read more

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The Vavilov Framework II: Reasonableness Review

In their hard-hitting concurring reasons in Vavilov, Abella and Karakatsanis JJ charge the majority with “reviv[ing] the kind of search for errors that dominated the pre-C.U.P.E. era” (at para. 199). Although there are some differences of detail, and some internal tensions in the majority’s articulation of a new methodology for reasonableness review, on balance the […] Read more