News & Publications Results

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

Two 2004 Supreme Court of Canada decisions in Haida Nation and Taku River Tlingit have provided greater clarity regarding the role and responsibilities of government, aboriginal groups and industry in consultations with aboriginal communities and accommodation of aboriginal concerns.

This paper is intended as an introduction to the subject of diamond royalties and marketing agreements in Canada. Diamonds are marketed and sold on the basis of the distinctive characteristics of each stone. The process of diamond sales therefore involves a degree of subjectivity absent from fungible mineral commodity sales in the international commodities market where published prices are readily available.. The paper briefly discusses diamond geology, diamond production and diamond marketing practices. It will then address the use of diamond royalty agreements and diamond marketing agreements in Canada and present practical guidance for transactional attorneys regarding the specific issues which should be considered in drafting these documents.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

Since the mid-1980s litigation has been a fact of life for pension and employee benefit plan administrators and sponsors. However, there is a widely shared impression that the scope and frequency of such litigation is increasing. The purpose of this paper is to examine more closely this increase in pension and benefit litigation in Canada, and to comment on the role class action legislation may have had on this phenomenon.

Article based on an interview with Edward L. Wilson which appeared in the Volume 13, Number 2 June 2004 issue of The Scrivener, which is published quarterly by The Society of Notaries Public of British Columbia.

Each type of royalty creates different advantages and disadvantages for the royalty owner and the operator. It is particularly interesting to compare and contrast a net smelter returns royalty (NSR) with a net profits interest (NPI).

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

The electric systems of Alberta and British Columbia are interconnected through three transmission lines, and all three are treated for operational purposes as a single line. For the purpose of this discussion, these interconnections will be referred to collectively as the Alberta-BC Interconnection, or the Intertie.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

The federal government has introduced the first phase of a multi-phased plan intended to harmonize the current greenhouse gas emission reporting systems of Federal, provincial and territorial governments.

Courts around the world have struggled in recent years to to balance two competing values: (1) providing a remedy to plaintiffs who have been injured by defamatory material posted on the Internet; and (2) ensuring that defendants do not face jeopardy in jurisdictions which lack any real or substantial connection to their activities and business.

There is a difference between true solicitor-client privilege (also called legal advice privilege) and litigation privilege (also called solicitor’s brief privilege). While certain fact patterns may give rise to both types of privilege (particularly when litigation is underway or within reasonable contemplation), there are key differences between the two, both in terms of the test for when they will apply, and the policies underpinning their existence.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

Pension disputes are fertile ground for class actions. Where one member of a plan may not think it economic to bring a claim relating to the terms of that plan, a class action allows one plaintiff and one class action lawyer to aggregate all of these members’ claims into one proceeding. Given the monetary value of pension plans in Canada today, it can be expected that more and more pension disputes will be decided in the context of a class action.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

The themes in this paper are: (1) the "legislative" nature of the MIPS / EPG manuals, how that is significant in appeals to the Board, and the importance of stakeholder input before they are implemented; (2) the timing of legislated changes to MIPS / EPG manuals, and problems that can arise when changes to these manuals are officially given to manual subscribers after appeal dates have passed; and (3) interesting questions that arise from s.15 and s.16 information requests and how they fit into the scheme of a consultative process.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

The Builders Lien Act (Bill 38) (the “Act”) was brought into force on February 1, 1998 and replaced the former builders lien legislation in force in the Province. The Act significantly changed previous existing construction practice and must be understood by anyone working in the construction industry in British Columbia. This article is a summary of certain features of the Act and is intended to serve as a basic overview of its operation.