Energy and Mines News:

Changes to Mines Act
Amendments brought about by Bill 19, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 3), 2011, will give the Province the power to introduce regulations that would exempt some lower-risk activities from the permitting process. This approach will reduce the regulatory burden on industry, allow it to grow the mining sector, save individual companies time and money and, ultimately, help create jobs. Regulations will be developed in consultation with First Nations, industry and the public. Higher-risk activities will continue to require permitting under British Columbia's strict regulatory regime. The Bill will come into force by regulation. Source: Ministry of Attorney General.

BC First Nations Divided over Enbridge Pipeline
On Friday, December 2nd, a group of hereditary chiefs from the Gitxsan in northwestern B.C. announced it had accepted Enbridge Inc.'s (TSX:ENB) offer of an equity stake in the $5.5-billion project.

In announcing the agreement, Chief Elmer Derrick heralded his community's "trusted" relationship with Enbridge, and he estimated the deal would be worth at least $7 million for the Gitxsan.

But shortly after the announcement, a group claiming to represent other hereditary chiefs, including Geri McDougall, and four Gitxsan bands issued a news release denouncing the agreement.

The news release came from the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Gitxsan Treaty Society and the B.C. Treaty Commission over complaints about ongoing treaty negotiations with the federal and provincial governments. Read the full story on the CTV website.

Family, Wills & Estates News:

New Family Law Act Replaces Family Relations Act
This Bill, which repeals and replaces the Family Relations Act, was introduced November 14th and received Royal Assent on November 24th. Most of the sections of the Bill are expected to come into force by regulation over the course of the next 12-18 months. The new Act will do the following:

• promote family dispute resolution to resolve disputes;
• clarify when and how agreements may be set aside;
• establish a comprehensive scheme to determine a child's legal parents, including in situations where technology has been used to assist reproduction;
• ensure that the best interests of the child are the only consideration when resolving parenting disputes, and add into the consideration of the best interests of the child any history of family violence and, unless inappropriate, the child's views;
• emphasize responsibilities to children and promote cooperation by eliminating divisive terms, replacing "custody" and "access" with "guardianship", "parental responsibilities" and "contact with a child";
• establish a clear framework to determine whether a parent may relocate with a child;
• extend rights and duties respecting property division to unmarried persons who qualify as spouses, and modify the property division framework to meet recommendations from the British Columbia Law Institute respecting pension division;
• align spousal support more closely with the Divorce Act (Canada) and eliminate parental support;
• increase the range of remedies and consequences for non-compliance with agreements and orders;
• replace civil restraining orders with orders to protect safety and orders to manage behaviours that are problematic but do not present a risk of family violence;
• amend the Commercial Arbitration Act to change the title and add provisions unique to arbitrations respecting family law disputes.

2011 Amendments to Federal Child Support Tables
The Federal Child Support Guidelines (Federal Guidelines) have been amended to update the Federal Child Support Tables (Federal Tables) used to determine child support amounts. These amendments will come into force on December 31, 2011.

The 2006 Federal Tables must still be used to determine child support owed before December 31, 2011. However, the updated Federal Tables (link to PDF tables) should now be used to figure out how much child support should be paid from December 31, 2011 onward. View the full news release posted on the Justice Canada website.

Forest and Environment News:

Recent BC Decision Limits Authority of DFO in Development Near Water
A recent decision of the BC Court of Appeal confirms that the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans ("DFO") does not have authority over, and does not need to approve, development near water which does not have a harmful effect on fish habitat. Nor does DFO need to be consulted, nor do they have the authority to require changes to development near water, if there is no harmful effect on fish habitat.

This is an important decision for developers in BC because, up until this decision, DFO had been given de facto control over developments near water as part of the planning and development process. Of course, if there is a harmful effect on fish habitat, then DFO has authority and an Authorization is required in order to be in compliance with the Fisheries Act. Read the full article by Tony Crossman with Miller Thomson.

BC Lumber Producers File Statement of Defence in Pine Beetle Export Case
A statement of defence has been filed against a complaint alleging violations of the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber agreement involving the export of wood from trees savaged by the mountain pine beetle in British Columbia.

The more than 200-page statement, outlining U.S. allegations and Canada's response, was filed earlier this week before the London Court of International Arbitration. It was unclear when a decision will be rendered in the case. Canada had until November to respond to the complaint and oral arguments had been scheduled for February in Washington, D.C. U.S. forestry companies contend that B.C. trees destroyed in the mountain pine beetle epidemic have been turned into logs or lumber at unfairly low provincial government cutting fees and shipped to the U.S. market. Their complaint, filed after consultations failed to produce a solution, says the practice has given B.C. mills an unfair advantage in softwood sales. Read the full article in the Winnipeg Free Press.

Foresters Act Changes in Effect
Sections of Bill 6, Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Statutes Amendment Act, 2011, came into force on November 14th. Among other changes, the Bill amended the Foresters Act so as to enable timber cruisers to be officially certified, to provide confidence that accurate information used to calculate stumpage is being collected. Timber cruising involves gathering data on the amount, type, grade and value of trees to be cut into timber in a particular cutblock.

Wildlife Act Amendments
Amendments brought about by Bill 19, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 3), 2011 are intended to create new recreational opportunities for interested youth and adults, support the guide outfitting industry and provide conservation officers more enforcement to prevent human-wildlife conflicts and increase public safety. As being a guide outfitter is often a lifetime career, the changes extend the term for guide certificates to a maximum of 25 years (from 10 years) and will help provide greater business certainty. The requirement to submit a guide report after a hunt will be moved from the act to regulations and consideration will be given to extending the report submission deadline to give guide outfitters more flexibility and time. Other proposed amendments include: increasing the age limit of youth (junior) from 10 to 13 years to 10 to 17 years; the creation of a new mentorship initiation hunting licence for residents 18 years old and above, which will permit individuals to explore hunting under the close supervision of an experienced hunter; and a prohibition and $230 fine for the mismanagement of attractants (such as food, compost and garbage waste) that could invite dangerous wildlife, such as grizzly and black bears, cougars, coyotes and wolves. These changes are now in force. Source: Ministry of Attorney General.

Health News:

Red Tape, Corporate "Stalling" Keeps Wrongly-Labeled Food on Shelves
Even when government inspectors identify what they believe is a misleading or fraudulent claim on a food product, some complain they can't act swiftly to get it off the market because of Ottawa's slow, muddied approach to policing food labels. In other cases, inspectors say they face hurdles from company lawyers while the products with disputed nutrition claims continue to be sold.

Other inspectors complain there just aren't enough resources to deal with misleading food labels. These sentiments from inspectors about "outdated and inadequate inspection tools" at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency – sprinkled throughout internal records released under access to information law – come just as the agency ponders its future in the policing of food labels. After cutting CFIA's budget for consumer protection from $89 million in 2008 to $42 million last year, top brass at the agency are now in the early stages of comprehensive study of "the role of CFIA in consumer protection" and how it "deals with food labelling issues." View the full story as reported on Canada.com

Labour, Company and Finance News:

Unemployment Rate Up as Canada Loses 18,600 Jobs
Canada's employment rate fell for the second month in a row in November as the economy shed 18,600 jobs. That pushed the jobless rate up one notch to 7.4 per cent.

It's now been five months that Canada has been looking at a flat labour market. Still, November's job losses weren't as severe as October's, when the country lost 54,000 jobs.

November's report should now provide economists with a clearer picture about the health of Canada's labour market. The last two reports saw wild swings, with the economy creating 61,000 jobs in September and then losing those 54,000 in October, mostly wiping out September's gain. Read the full article posted on CTV News.

Clark Pitches Feds on Deal to Pay Back $1.6B for HST
Premier Christy Clark says she's trying to work out a new deal with Ottawa to repay the $1.6 billion British Columbia got from the federal government to adopt the harmonized sales tax.

Clark said last Wednesday she was in Ottawa this week discussing the issue with federal officials.

"We're talking to them about it," she said. "We want to see if we can get the best deal we can for British Columbia.

"Remember this, when British Columbia made the decision to go back to the provincial sales tax I think everybody who voted knew that would legally oblige us to pay back the $1.6 billion," said Clark. "That's our legal obligation."

Ottawa and the B.C. government have been quietly negotiating the repayment issue since last August when British Columbians rejected the HST in a referendum. View the full story on CTV.

New Insurance Rules Protect Consumers, Reduce Red Tape
New regulations to update and improve consumer protection and reduce red tape in the insurance industry will come into effect on July 1, 2012, implementing improvements set out in the Insurance Amendment Act, 2009.

Under the new rules, insurance companies will be required to put in place internal complaint resolution procedures and offer consumers access to ombudsperson-type services if disputes cannot be resolved internally. Other consumer protection measures include:

• A 30-day grace period for consumers to pay overdue life and health insurance premiums.
• A 10-day cooling-off period for consumers to rescind a life or health insurance contract.
• Extending the limitation period in which consumers can make legal claims against insurance companies to two years from one.
• Strengthening language to clarify that fire coverage includes fires resulting from any cause, including earthquake, unless expressly set out in the regulations.
• Providing consumers of group insurance products a right to obtain a copy of the key parts of those insurance policies.
• Requiring insurers to notify claimants of limitation periods and dispute resolution processes.

Click here for the full government news release issued by the Ministry of Finance.

Local Government News:

Auditor General For Local Government Bill Dies
The much anticipated Auditor General For Local Government Act was introduced late into the session and did not proceed past first reading. The new Act was to create an oversight agency for local governments and was considered by many municipal politicians as a waste of money.

B.C. Reaches Agreement-in-Principle with RCMP
Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Shirley Bond has announced that the Province of British Columbia has reached agreement-in-principle with Public Safety Canada regarding a new contract for RCMP services in British Columbia.

The proposed agreement reflects a new partnership based on transparency and mutual benefits. It contains greater financial accountability and measures to monitor and contain costs over time.

Through a new proposed Contract Management Committee (CMC), the Province and Canada will jointly oversee how the RCMP delivers police services and how costs are managed. Municipalities will be represented on the CMC.

The Province will also be establishing a new local government advisory committee so that municipalities have a continued voice as the agreement is implemented. Source: Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General.

Changes Strengthening Agricultural Land Commission Now Law
B.C.'s agricultural land now has even greater protection after legislation strengthening the Agricultural Land Commission became law.

"The changes will enhance the operational capacity of the Agricultural Land Commission in order to expand opportunities for farmers and ranchers," said B.C. Agriculture Minister Don McRae. "British Columbians value local food, local farmers and local farms, and the Province has supported those values with this action."

"The new legislation and related initiatives should rectify some of the concerns of the agriculture community, while securing land for food production," said B.C. Cattlemen's Association general manager Kevin Boon. "This will be extremely important to B.C.'s economy as we move towards an era where food will become one of the most sought-after resources any country can provide." View the entire news release.

Motor Vehicle News:

Impaired Driving Convictions Spark BC Lawsuits
Angry B.C. drivers have filed a flurry of lawsuits challenging the province's tough drunk driving laws, after a B.C. Supreme Court ruling last week, striking down parts of the legislation as unconstitutional.

Lawyer Jennifer Currie filed three petitions in B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday on behalf of clients challenging driving prohibitions. All cited last week's decision against the section of the legislation dealing with people who blow over .08. Read the full story posted on the CBC website.

Real Estate & Builders Lien News:

Home Inspection Laws Urged to Protect Consumers
The case of a B.C. consumer who bought a home that required $50,000 in water-leakage repairs after the seller signed a disclosure statement and the home was inspected stresses the need for national inspection standards regulated by the provinces, some industry members and educators say.

British Columbia and Alberta are the only provinces that have regulated the home inspection industry, requiring that inspectors be licensed. View full story on CBC News.

Coming to Terms with Councillors Who Violate the Strata Property Act
By Suzanne Morphet, Special to The Sun
Would the threat of a fine for strata councillors who wilfully contravene the Strata Property Act be a good thing or not?

That's a question I've been mulling since touching on it in my last column. At first, I thought the idea of fining councillors was a little draconian. After all, even if they know that what they're doing is contrary to the law, they're volunteers.

But then I remembered the numerous emails I've received over the last couple of years from strata owners, including this one from Colleen Walker, who served on her council for three terms and grew completely disillusioned: "There needs to be a list of penalties for being in contravention of the act and a body to which to report such contraventions," she wrote. "We need to establish some 'strata police'. Can you imagine if there were no penalties for disobeying the Motor Vehicle Act? The streets would be chaos!" Read more.

Strata Property Act Index
The Vancouver Island Strata Owners Association has published an index to help Strata Owners better navigate through the Strata Property Act. The index was prepared by Harvey Williams (past president of VISOA).