This Fall I am teaching a new course on advanced administrative law at the University of Ottawa. Here is the overview and course outline. Advanced Administrative Law (The Law of Economic Regulation) Paul Daly Fall 2026 Overview Students in this course learn the legal principles relating to the regulation of economic activity in Canada. We […] Read more

I had the distinct pleasure of presenting a paper last month in honour of Justice Morissette, latterly of the Quebec Court of Appeal and for many years a professor (and then dean) at McGill’s Faculty of Law. I am going to reproduce the paper in four parts here: the introduction (in this post) and then […] Read more

I am looking forward very much to a trip to South Africa next week for the Public Law Conference this year on the theme of Public Law and the Future of Constitutional Democracy. My paper is on “An Institutional Approach to Judicial Independence and Accountability”: My goal in this contribution is to set out and defend […] Read more

Thanks to Claude, here is an English translation of my post on the Petrishki case (NB I have not verified the re-translated extracts from the Supreme Court of Canada judgments mentioned below) My subject this afternoon is the recent decision of the Quebec Court of Appeal in Procureur général du Québec c. Petrishki, 2025 QCCA 893, from […] Read more

I am giving a talk next week to the Conférence des juges administratifs du Québec on administrative independence. In part, I will reiterate points I discussed in detail here. But I also explain, by reference to a case that the Supreme Court of Canada will hear on appeal, that administrative tribunals are, in some circumstances, […] Read more

I have been increasingly bullish about the use of artificial intelligence in public administration. In a piece on “Artificial Intelligence and Administrative Tribunals“, I suggested that generative AI, such as Chat GPT or Claude, could be used to enhance the justification of decisions by providing reasons that are even more justified, transparent and intelligible than […] Read more

The interesting and important recent decision in  Evely v. Nova Scotia (Minister of Natural Resources), 2026 NSSC 118 is a very good example of what I have described as the “Doré Duty” in action.  Under the Doré duty, where Charter rights or values are engaged by administrative action, the decision-maker must demonstrate that it considered the effect of its decision […] Read more

The title is ironic enough, as I haven’t produced a blog post in a while (I have been writing, rest assured, just not in bloggable form!), but there is a very important new resource — publicly available, and for free — that is useful to all legal writers. In Some Writing Tips, Justice David Stratas […] Read more

Tomorrow, I will be appearing as a witness at a meeting of the Standing Committee on International Trade. Here is the Notice of Meeting. And here are my opening remarks: My name is Paul Daly, I am a professor at the University of Ottawa and I appear in a personal capacity. Chair, members of the […] Read more

This week, the Supreme Court of Canada heard argument in the appeal from the decision of the Quebec Court of Appeal in Organisation mondiale sikhe du Canada c. Procureur général du Québec, 2024 QCCA 254. One of the issues in this sprawling and complex case, is whether the Quebec legislature’s use of the notwithstanding clause […] Read more