Energy and Mines News:

Environmental Review Tribunal: Wind Turbines Do Not Pose Health Risk
On Monday, July 18, the Environmental Review Tribunal delivered its ruling in Erickson v. MOE. It found against the appellants who stood in opposition to the Suncor Kent Breeze Wind project. The Tribunal held that the appellants had failed to provide sufficient evidence to show that the low frequency sound generated by wind turbines will cause serious harm to human health. In the decision, the Tribunal stated that the evidence presented by the appellants was largely "exploratory" in nature, and gave it little weight. Instead, they relied on the testimony of several expert witnesses who stated that the relevant research was still in its earliest stages and that it had not yet progressed to a point where reliable conclusions could be drawn. View the full article by James Kelsall, law student with Davis LLP.

First Coal Receives Purchase Offer From Xstrata Coal 
Vancouver-based First Coal Corporation (First Coal) has received an all-cash offer of purchase from Xstrata Coal. Following receipt of a fairness opinion from KPMG Corporate Finance Inc., the Board of Directors of First Coal has unanimously recommended that its shareholders support this transaction when the shareholders vote on August 2, 2011. Xstrata Coal is the world’s largest international exporter of thermal coal and a major producer of premium quality hard coking coal and semi-soft coal. The company is headquartered in Sydney, Australia and has interests in over 30 coal mines projects properties in Australia, South Africa, Colombia and the Donkin project in Nova Scotia. Xstrata Coal is a division of Xstrata Plc, an international mining company with holdings in coal, copper, nickel, zinc and alloy mining properties as well as mineral processing and other technology. Click here to view full story as reported by MABC.

Privacy Commissioner to Investigate Smart Meters - Privacy Laws
British Columbia's information and privacy commissioner will investigate BC Hydro's smart meter program to ensure it complies with privacy laws. In a news release Thursday, Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said she decided to launch her investigation after receiving numerous complaints that the information collected by the meters may breach personal privacy. "The privacy and security of energy consumption data is a very real issue for citizens throughout the province," Denham is quoted as saying in the news release. "With an increase in the frequency of the information collected from smart meters comes an increased responsibility on BC Hydro to ensure that privacy and security is built into the smart grid." View full story as reported in the Vancouver Sun.

Family, Wills and Estates News:

Court's Discretion to Correct Wills Enhanced Under New Act 
British Columbia's Wills Act contains many technical requirements for executing a will. While these rules are designed to protect against fraud, they can also create circumstances where the testator's clear intentions cannot be upheld due to his or her inadvertent failure to comply. The legislature has recognized the difficulties that the strict requirements can cause, and has provided some leeway in the new legislation, the Wills, Estates and Succession Act ("WESA"). WESA is expected to come into force later in 2011 or early 2012. View full article by Amy A. Mortimore and Areet Kaila with Clark Wilson.

Stepparent Caught by Hole in Family Relations Act
View full article by John-Paul Boyd, BC Family Law Resource Blog
The Family Relations Act, British Columbia's primary law on domestic relations, is missing something very important: a triggering event for applications involving custody, guardianship, access, child support and spousal support. Nothing in the law restricts how soon an application on these issues can be made; in particular, nothing says that an application can't be brought while a couple are still together. This isn't usually a problem, of course, since people are usually pretty annoyed when they decide to sue one another, and if they haven't split up by the time litigation commences, the commencement of litigation will usually do it. However, there can be odd consequences when other people, like grandparents or former spouses, step into the picture, since nothing says when they can and can't make applications of their own. (I made some comments about this during the consultation phase of the Family Relations Act Review, and there's a chance that the new legislation will correct this issue.) The legislative chickens came home to roost for one stepfather after an application by the child's biological father in a case recently before the Provincial Court and brought to my attention by my friend Agnes Huang of Schuman Daltrop Basran Robin. .

Adult Guardianship Legislation - BC Reg. 14/2011 (and subsequent amendments to BC Reg. 14/2011 by BC Reg. 111/2011 and BC Reg. 141/2011) bring in significant changes to the Adult Guardianship Act, the Power of Attorney Act, Public Guardian and Trustee  Act and various related amendments to other Acts and Regs.  These changes come into force September 1, 2011.  Watch for Quickscribe's early consolidation of the Power of Attorney Act in the coming weeks for viewing.

Health News:

B.C. Health Authority To Hand Out $50,000 worth of Crack Pipes
Vancouver health officials will distribute new crack pipes to drug users this fall as part of a pilot project aimed at reducing the transmission of diseases such as hepatitis C. The program, part of Vancouver's harm-reduction strategy, is expected to start in October and run for six months to a year, said Dr. Reka Gustafson, a medical health officer with the Vancouver Coastal Health authority. The intent is to help health-care workers connect with crack-cocaine smokers to evaluate how many of the drug users are in the city and what equipment they need to lower their risk of catching diseases such as hepatitis C, HIV and even respiratory illnesses. View the entire Vancouver Sun article.

Legal Showdown Between Provinces and Big Tobacco
The Supreme Court of Canada has cleared the way for the legal showdown between provinces and Big Tobacco. At stake are billions of dollars in money for government coffers. In a ruling June 24th, the top court ruled the federal government cannot be considered a third party defendant in provincial lawsuits over smoking and the drain it has put on health care. That leaves the tobacco companies alone on the hook for any financial penalties awarded as the result of provincial lawsuits. It's now a "two-party gunfight," one legal expert said, a situation that could push lawsuits through the system faster, leading to faster settlements. View the entire Vancouver Sun article.

Labour, Company and Finance News:

Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights on Social Media
With the continued growth of social media, it has become increasingly important for businesses to augment their plans to protect their intellectual property (IP) by developing a strategy for addressing violations of IP and other rights that take place on portals, such as FACEBOOK, TWITTER and EBAY, or blogs. The potential areas of concern are wide ranging. The following are just some examples of the violations of IP rights that can occur in social media:

• copyright infringement, such as the unauthorized use of text, images, videos and audio;
• trade-mark infringement or passing off, through the unauthorized use of a trade-mark for goods or services or a company name in comments on blogs or by impersonating a business;
• violation of personality rights, such as the impersonation of an individual;
• defamation, for example by false postings about a person on blogs;
• trade libel, such as by false postings about a product on blogs; and
• misuse of confidential information, through the disclosure of trade secrets by employees.

View full article by Anthony Prenol with Blakes.

Consumer Taxation Branch
For the latest Bulletins from the Consumer Taxation Branch, see What's New.

Local Government News:

Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights on Social Media
A new accord to limit and shape growth across Metro Vancouver for the next 30 years is now in effect after the only holdout city – Coquitlam – dropped its objections and signed on. The new regional growth strategy was adopted July 29 and replaces the former Livable Region Strategic Plan. It should be more enforceable, requiring cities to concentrate dense development within an urban containment boundary that protects farmland, low-density rural areas and green space from sprawl. But the key changes are new rules to limit the redevelopment of industrial land into condos and stem the rapid proliferation of suburban office parks in areas hard to serve with transit. "That imposes tremendous public costs," Burnaby Mayor and Metro regional planning chair Derek Corrigan said. View full article by BcLocalnews.

Proposed Municipal Auditor General
The Honourable Ida Chong, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, is surveying local governments about the design of a proposed Office of the Municipal Auditor General (MAG) in BC. UBCM has developed a context paper to support local governments as they consider their responses to the survey. This paper has been distributed to all local governments in BC along with a status update on this provincial initiative from President Barbara Steele. Click here to access the official news release from the UBCM and to obtain links to the Context Paper.

BCLI Releases 4 New Consultation Papers on Real Property Law
The British Columbia Law Institute has issued four new consultation papers in connection with phase 2 of its Real Property Reform Project. One deals with restrictive covenants and the other three deal with various aspects of co-ownership of land. Click here for the full news release.

The Tide May Be Turning on Pre-Sale Litigation
The economic downturn wreaked havoc on the pre-sale condo market in B.C. Buyers who were previously lining up around the block to snap up units in the new pre-sale projects, began looking for ways to get out of their contracts. As projects completed, buyers found that their units were appraised at less than the purchase price and additional, sometimes quite substantial, downpayments were required to obtain financing. Some buyers refused to complete and, predictably, some disputes ended up in court: developers suing for damages resulting from having to re-sell units at a discount, and buyers suing for the return of their deposits. The Real Estate Development Marketing Act played a starring role in these court cases. Buyers argued that developers breached one or more provisions of REDMA, rendering their purchase contracts unenforceable. View full article by Steva Batkin with Clark Wilson.