In two important recent decisions, the Ontario Divisional Court and the Federal Court of Appeal addressed delay in administrative tribunals. The issue in Bokhari v. Top Medical Transportation Services, 2026 ONSC 1073 related to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal’s practice of dismissing complaints of discrimination where, on a balance of probabilities, the complainant had not […] Read more

With apologies for this St Patrick’s Day interruption to normal service: Walking all the day, near tall towersWhere falcons build their nestsSilver winged they flyThey know the call of freedom in their breastsSaw Black Head against the skyWhere twisted rocks they run down to the seaLiving on your western shoreSaw summer sunsets, asked for moreI […] Read more

Here is an extract from the “Single Market Myth” paper I co-authored with Professor Mancini, speaking to the role (or not) of the Charter in advancing economic integration Here, too, the judicial approach has been to eschew any economic rights, thereby defanging the Charter as a potential weapon against over-intrusive regulation. In this section, we explain how […] Read more

Here is an extract from the “Single Market Myth” paper I co-authored with Professor Mancini, speaking to the constitutional basis of regulatory authority in Canada Legislative authority over trade and commerce in Canada is highly decentralized, posing significant challenges for regulatory – or deregulatory – legislation that is national in character. This section explains why […] Read more

With Mark Mancini, I have prepared a report for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute on dismantling internal trade barriers within Canada, a project to which there is much rhetorical commitment but rather less in the way of concrete action. We explain how what should be done can be done: We Canadians like to think that we live […] Read more

Just when you thought you had seen every conceivable standard of review problem (and/or that Vavilov had solved them all), along comes Gannett v. Halifax Regional Centre for Education, 2026 NSCA 16. Here, the statute provides for a decision by the provincial Labour Board and then: The review of a decision of the Board shall be conducted […] Read more

As I have observed before, (with apologies to Kenneth Shepsle) administrative agencies are a “they”, not an “it”. Further evidence comes from West Whitby Landowners Group Inc. v. Elexicon Energy Inc., 2025 ONCA 821. Over the objection of the Ontario Energy Board, the Ontario Court of Appeal held that Board staff members could make binding […] Read more

In Canadian law, the protections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms apply with relatively little force in areas of economic regulation. The following passage from R. v. Wholesale Travel Group Inc., [1991] 3 SCR 154 is representative of the courts’ concern that giving too expansive a scope to the Charter might be socially damaging: Regulatory legislation […] Read more

I was in Dublin last week for the launch of the Law Reform Commission of Ireland’s recent Consultation Paper on Non-Court Adjudicative Bodies (see here). You can view the event here, chaired by Justice Bolger and featuring remarks from me, Frank Clarke and Richard Barrett: Read more

Last month, the Federal Court of Appeal handed down an important judgment in Canada (Attorney General) v. Canadian Civil Liberties Association, 2026 FCA 6. The Court of Appeal unanimously agreed with the Federal Court that the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act during the so-called ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests in Ottawa in 2022 was unlawful. Common […] Read more