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Oct 03 2023

New Disaster Management Law Introduced to Address Preparedness, Mitigation [Early Consolidation]

Update: Bill 31, the Emergency and Disaster Management Act, was introduced on October 3, 2023. Quickscribe has published an early consolidation of the new Act (with Hansard) prior to its coming into force. 

British Columbia’s emergency management minister said the province will be ready to introduce “in the coming weeks” new laws to govern responses to increasingly frequent natural disasters such as wildfires and flooding.

Bowinn Ma told a gathering at the Union of B.C. Municipalities’ annual convention in Vancouver Tuesday [September 19] that laws will address the four phases of emergency management, ranging from preparedness and mitigation to response and recovery.

Ma told B.C.’s local politicians that the current Emergency Program Act focusing on disaster response has not been updated since 1993 and hasn’t kept up with the increasing frequency of extreme weather brought on by climate change. Read the full article by the Canadian Press, published by Global News.

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Feb 07 2023

New Act to Recognize National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Introduced

On February 7, the government tabled a bill to recognize National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a public holiday in BC. If passed, the bill will amend the Employment Standards Act, as well as the Election Act and Interpretation Act, to designate September 30, Orange Shirt Day, as a statutory holiday.

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Oct 27 2022

Changes to Passenger Transportation Accessibility and Safety Introduced

Bill 40, the Passenger Transportation Amendment Act (No. 2), 2022, was introduced on October 27 and amends the Passenger Transportation Act. If passed, the Bill will enable the registrar of passenger transportation to support and operate an accessibility program that increases the availability of accessible commercial passenger vehicles and services for passengers with disabilities. According to the government, the accessibility program will require taxi and ride-hailing industries to increase the number of wheelchair accessible vehicles they provide.

Other proposed changes support increased passenger safety, by granting authority to the registrar of passenger transportation to prevent ineligible people from driving passenger-directed vehicles, as well as clarifying the type of evidence a driver must produce to confirm eligibility to drive the vehicle.

The Bill also clarifies the authority of the Passenger Transportation Board when setting out the terms and conditions for licensing service providers of commercial passenger vehicles.

For more information, read the government news release.

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Recent Contributions From Our Experts

In Champ’s Fresh Farms Inc. v. British Columbia (Employment Stanards Tribunal), 2023 BCSC 1075, the BC Supreme Court considered a petition for judicial review from a decision of the Employment Standards Tribunal relating to minimum wage for farm workers picking mush...

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Scott Marcinkow, Harper Grey LLP on EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS REGULATION 396/95

It is not always necessary to show that the proposed action is in the best interest of the estate. It may be sufficient if it is necessary or expedient to protect the interest of a specified person. 

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Stanley Rule, Sabey Rule LLP on WILLS, ESTATES AND SUCCESSION ACT

Decisions of the court under s. 17 are not limited appeal orders and therefore leave is not required under s. 11 of the Court of Appeal Rules to appeal.

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Melanie Harmer, McMillan LLP on JUDICIAL REVIEW PROCEDURE ACT

The Director of Adjudication allowed the Ministry of Attorney General, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Health’s request that the commissioner grant certain remedies on the basis that an individual was abusing FIPPA’s review and inquiry process: the com...

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Karen Zimmer, Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP on FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AND PROTECTION OF PRIVACY ACT

Section 36 of the Property Law Act does not apply to the Crown land owned or controlled by the Provincial government:    Fox v British Columbia (Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development), 2022 BCSC 541

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Peter Roberts, Lawson Lundell LLP on PROPERTY LAW ACT

In British Columbia (Attorney General) v. Le, 2023 BCCA 200, the appellants challenged an order that s. 5 of the Disbursement and Expert Evidence Regulation, BC Reg 210/2020 (the "Regulation") was both invalid and unconstitutional. The Court of Appeal held that a reg...

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OnPoint Legal Research, Onpoint Legal Research Law Corporation on EVIDENCE ACT

In R. v. Christensen, 2020 BCPC 208 the Court accepted expert medical evidence that it would be unethical to use the authority of the Mental Health Act to enforce compliance with anti-androgen medication for someone convicted of repeated sexual offences. The expert physicians ...

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Laura Johnston, Health Justice on MENTAL HEALTH ACT

The litigation conduct of a corporation that is a co-defendant to an oppression action, in particular a corporation’s vigorous conduct of its defence and the filing of a counterclaim, cannot be actionable as oppression. In this case, the parties were shareholders of the ...

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Debby Cumberford, Deborah M. Cumberford on BUSINESS CORPORATIONS ACT

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Greg GEHLEN, GEHLEN DABBS CASH LLP on BANKRUPTCY AND INSOLVENCY ACT [FEDERAL]

The Court of Appeal quashed a decision of the Tribunal that denied legal representation on the basis that legal counsel could instead provide assistance anonymously and behind the scenes.

The constitutionality of the Civil Resolution Tribunal's limitation on legal representat...

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Melanie Harmer, McMillan LLP on CIVIL RESOLUTION TRIBUNAL ACT

Section 35 is a "comprehensive code for the modification or cancellation of the interests in land identified in subsection (1)"(para. 40). It ousts the common law.

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Peter Roberts, Lawson Lundell LLP on PROPERTY LAW ACT

Provisions in the Act which prohibit specific types of ipso facto clauses, such as this one, which invalidates clauses that grant an accelerated payment or forfeiture of term because of someone’s filing of a Notice of Intention, do not oust the general common law “anti-dep...

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Greg GEHLEN, GEHLEN DABBS CASH LLP on BANKRUPTCY AND INSOLVENCY ACT [FEDERAL]

This section was drawn from section 2.1 of the Arbitration Act, RSBC 1996, c. 55, and is needlessly confusing. On the one hand it seems to say that people can agree to arbitration anything that "may be the subject of a family law dispute in the future," while on the other is s...

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John-Paul Boyd QC, John-Paul E. Boyd Arbitration Chambers on FAMILY LAW ACT

In Goldsmith v. National Bank of Canada 2016 ONCA 22 the court reviewed the requirements for leave which under section 140.8 require that the court is satisfied that the action is brought in good faith and there is a reasonable possibility that the action will be resolved at t...

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Teresa Tomchak, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP on SECURITIES ACT

In Bison Acquisition Corp 2021 ABASC 188 after unsuccessful discussions, Bison (which was formed by funds managed by Brookfield) made an unsolicited offer for IPL.  Subsequently IPL executed an arrangement agreement with Pembina which contained a $350M termination fee.

&...

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Teresa Tomchak, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP on NATIONAL INSTRUMENT 62-104 TAKE-OVER BIDS AND ISSUER BIDS (B.C. Reg. 21/2008)

Following the decision in Mortimer v. Bender, 2020 BCSC 483, a beneficiary or wills variation claimant must bring an application under this section to pursue a claim against the personal representative if the claim relates to the personal representative's conduct during the de...

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Stanley Rule, Sabey Rule LLP on WILLS, ESTATES AND SUCCESSION ACT

The Court in Triad Mechanical Inc. v. Maple Leaf Green World Inc., 2021 BCSC 1865 considered the dictionary definition of "conclusively", and determined that "conclusively deemed" within s. 33(4) of the Builders Lien Act, does not leave open the question of whether there is a ...

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Christopher Hirst, Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP on BUILDERS LIEN ACT

The threat of an oppressive act, even if the threat has passed before the matter proceeds to court, will not necessarily oust the court's jurisdiction to find oppression. If the aggrieved shareholder continues to suffer from the effect of the past oppression, the application m...

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Debby Cumberford, Deborah M. Cumberford on BUSINESS CORPORATIONS ACT

In Hawthorn v Hawrish, 2023 BCCA 182, the Court of Appeal upheld the chambers judge’s order dismissing applications made under s. 7 of the Arbitration Act, SBC 2020, c 2 (the "Act") for a partial stay of proceedings in favour of arbitration. The Court of Appeal held that...

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OnPoint Legal Research, Onpoint Legal Research Law Corporation on ARBITRATION ACT

Although the Mental Health Review Board has generally not published its decisions, in November 2020 it released a small sample of anonymized decisions. The sample decisions address some procedural issues, such as the exclusion of evidence that was not disclosed to involuntary ...

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Laura Johnston, Health Justice on MENTAL HEALTH ACT

The implications of this section are canvassed by Jennifer Bednard in "Will or Will Not: Practice Implications of Section 58 of the Wills, Estates and Succession Act Part I: What is a Testamentary Document Anyway?" (2020) 78 Advocate 527.

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D. Michael Bain, K.C., Hamilton Howell Bain & Gould on WILLS, ESTATES AND SUCCESSION ACT

This provision is mandatory and there is no discretion to order payment to be made to someone other than the PGT. See 2019 BCCA 171 at paras 7 - 11.

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Dan Orsetti, Public Guardian And Trustee of British Columbia on WILLS, ESTATES AND SUCCESSION ACT

The policy considerations underlying section 60 of the Wills, Estates and Succession Act, together with the nature of constructive trusts was the subject of some debate in a series of articles published in The Advocate in 2022.

 

A healthy and respectful canvassing of p...

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D. Michael Bain, K.C., Hamilton Howell Bain & Gould on WILLS, ESTATES AND SUCCESSION ACT

Crisci v. Vancouver Island Health Authority, 2023 BCSC 1883: Section 51 encompasses not only the initial investigatory stage, but also the implementation stage of the complaint process. 

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Joel Morris, Harper Grey LLP on EVIDENCE ACT

The class action privacy case, Ari v. Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, 2022 BCSC 1475 involved a claim by individuals (and those who lived with them) whose personal information was improperly accessed without an apparent business purpose, by an ICBC adjuster. The adj...

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Karen Zimmer, Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP on PRIVACY ACT

Section 23 of the Builders Lien Act provides for the ‘removal of claims of lien by payment of total amount recoverable’. In Metro-Can Construction (PE) Ltd. v. Escobar, 2022 BCSC 287, Master Bilawich held that the order sought by the petitioner under...

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Christopher Hirst, Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP on BUILDERS LIEN ACT

Maddock v. British Columbia, 2022 BCSC 1605: Section 54(h) empowers the Provincial Health Officer ("PHO") to decline the request of a person affected to reconsider (s. 43), review (s. 44), or reassess (s. 45) an order or a variance order during an emergency. This provision exi...

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Joel Morris, Harper Grey LLP on PUBLIC HEALTH ACT

In Singh v Singh, 2020 BCCA 21, the Court of Appeal restricts the nature of the "other factors" that may be argued in favour of reapoprtionment. Justice Garson reviews the specific factors identified in section 95(2) and, applying the principles of statutory interpretation, co...

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John-Paul Boyd QC, John-Paul E. Boyd Arbitration Chambers on FAMILY LAW ACT

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