Energy and Mines News:

Mineral Tenure in British Columbia
British Columbia mineral tenure is governed by the provincial Crown administering the provisions of the British Columbia Mineral Tenure Act. Mineral rights may also be obtained through a grant from the provincial Crown under the British Columbia Land Act. Mineral tenure does not include rights to oil and gas, which is governed by the British Columbia Petroleum and Natural Gas Act, or coal, which is governed by the British Columbia Coal Act. This article by Greg Umbach gives a brief overview of the process to obtain mineral tenure in British Columbia, excluding oil, natural gas and coal.

B.C. Puts LNG Power Commitment into Regulation
Minister of Energy and Mines Rich Coleman [recently] announced that British Columbia’s Clean Energy Act has been updated to enable the use of natural gas to power liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants. Effective immediately, LNG export facilities, and the electricity generation used to power them, are excluded from the Clean Energy Act’s 93 percent clean and renewable energy requirement. Premier Christy Clark announced government’s intention to clarify its clean energy policy to include natural gas last month during a meeting with the Business Council of British Columbia. This change will ensure the LNG industry can access a reliable, timely and cost-competitive mix of gas-fired and renewable power generation to meet its large electrical demand. The 93 percent clean energy target will continue to apply to non-LNG load and will ensure the majority of B.C.’s power requirements will be met with renewable resources. Read the Government News release.
[Note: Quickscribe is was pleased to be able to provide you with access to B.C. Reg. 234/2012 well before it was made available to the general public.]

1 out of 5 Natural Gas Drilling Projects Stalled near Fort Nelson, B.C.
B.C.'s natural gas-rich northeast is being pinched by plummeting natural gas prices
A national trade association revised an earlier forecast and now says that natural gas drilling activity in B.C.'s northeast will likely be 22 percent lower this year than originally predicted. Fort Nelson sits on one of the largest natural gas reserves in the world, but Petroleum Services Association of Canada President Mark Salkeld said that only 485 wells will be drilled in B.C. instead of rougly 620 that were expected, mainly due to declining commodity prices. "It's been a steady decline since our initial forecast for 2012 with a little over 15,000 wells [for all of Canada]," he said. Read the full CBC article here.

Oil Wealth: Should Norway Be the Canadian Way?
How did Norwegians get so petro-smart? The Tyee sent Mitchell Anderson there to find out. This is the first of his reports. Is Canada an oil nation? While debate grows in this country about the ethics of the oil sands or the implications of Dutch Disease, there is little doubt that petroleum is a major part of our economy and certain to become more significant in the future. Canada is sixth-largest oil-producing nation in the world. Energy exports are seven per cent of our GDP and 19 per cent of our exports. The Alberta oil sands have reserves second only to Saudi Arabia, and some analysts believe production may double by 2020, reaching six million barrels per day. View full article posted in The Tyee.

Family, Wills & Estates News:

New BC Supreme Court Direction to Registry
Chief Justice Bauman has issued a Direction to the Registry which extends a grace period during which Supreme Court registries will accept Supreme Court Civil Forms and Supreme Court Family Forms which were repealed by Order in Council 192. The grace period has been extended to October 31, 2012. Source: Supreme Court of BC.

Families can now Register Births of Newborns Online
Beginning August 1, 2012, British Columbia parents will be able to register the birth of their newborn child online, with the launch of a new birth registration system. Registration creates a permanent legal record of a birth and every B.C.-born baby’s birth must be registered with the Vital Statistics Agency. No fee is charged for registrations received within 30 days of a child’s birth. View government news release.

Severing Joint Tenancy Through a Course of Dealing
Joint tenancy is one method by which two or more persons may hold land or other property. The unique feature of holding property as joint tenants is that when one of the owners dies, his or her interest passes to the surviving owner (or owners) by right of survivorship. While joint tenancy is often desirable for estate planning purposes, there may be situations in which a joint owner would be better off to hold an undivided interest which can be left to the beneficiaries of his or her estate by will. Converting a joint tenancy to an undivided interest as tenants in common is referred to as severing the joint tenancy. View the full article by Valerie Dixon with Clark Wilson LLP.

Court Favours B.C. in Softwood Lumber Dispute
London tribunal dismisses U.S. claim of subsidy to Interior producers
British Columbia lumber producers avoided a $300-million penalty Wednesday after an international business court rejected claims by United States rivals that B.C. cheated on terms of a Canada-U.S. trade pact. The U.S. alleged in 2011 that B.C. producers and the province had used the devastation caused to Interior forests by the mountain pine beetle to justify low stumpage rates - and that export volumes of lumber appeared to exceed the production expected from the harvest of beetle-damaged wood. The U.S. claimed B.C.'s actions were in violation of the portion of the 2006 Canada-U.S. Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) that covers B.C. timber pricing policies. However the London Court of International Arbitration, a 129-year-old institution for resolving commercial disputes that charges up to $710 per hour of court time, voted unanimously in favour of B.C. producers. All three members of the tribunal that heard the case are European. One was selected by Canada, one by the U.S., and the third selected by the other two. Read Vancouver Sun article.

Federal Government Increases Oversight of Activities Impacting Fisheries
Bill C-38, the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, (the Bill) was passed on June 29, 2012. While the Bill was publicized as streamlining natural resource development approvals, which it does, it also contains substantial amendments to the Fisheries Act (the Act)that have led to allegations that the federal government is reducing protection of the aquatic environment. What has been lost in this public discourse is that changes made by Bill C-38 to the Act actually increase the oversight by the federal government of activities impacting fish-bearing waters and fish habitat. This includes extending the power to order works to mitigate harm, allowing government officials to shut down operations permanently and increasing responsibilities on individuals and corporations to report potentially harmful activities. View the full article.

Forest Act Amendments
B.C. Reg 203/2012 brought about a small number of amendments to the Forest Act in July, including amendments to section 54.4 dealing with the transfer of certain agreements not permitted. Specifically, these amendments brought into force sections of 2011 Bill 13 and are intended to:

• define the term "restricted forest licence", as that term is used in the amendments made by this Bill to this section;
• prohibit the disposition of a restricted forest licence that was entered into with a person who owned or leased, or intended to own or lease, a prescribed type of processing facility, unless that disposition is made with the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council or as permitted by the regulations;
• add a reference consequential to the addition by this Bill of subsection (1.01) to this section.

Pulp Mill Fined for Polluting Columbia River – Environmental Management Act
Zellstoff Celgar Limited Partnership was sentenced in a British Columbia Provincial court yesterday for depositing acutely lethal effluent into the Columbia River, and for other offences under the Environmental Management Act. The sentencing is the result of a conviction on February 16, 2012, following an 8 day trial. Zellstoff Celgar Limited Partnership was fined a total of $150,000, and ordered to post details about the conviction on their corporate website until July 31, 2013. The Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation will receive $120 000 of the fine. View the full article published by Forest Talk.

B.C. Moose Ravaged by Salvage Logging of Beetle-Killed Pine Forests
Aggressive salvage logging of beetle-killed pine forests is being blamed for moose populations crashing by up to 70 percent in the B.C. Interior. Massive clearcuts with no size limits have eliminated extensive habitat, leaving moose exposed and vulnerable to human hunters and wild predators that are taking advantage of increased access to the back country. The situation is so serious that the province is imposing greater restrictions on hunting opportunities, and one aboriginal group is declaring their traditional Chilcotin territory off-limits to non-native moose hunters this fall. Read more.

Illegal Billing Identified at Private Vancouver Clinics – Medicare Protection Act
Two high profile and closely linked private Vancouver medical clinics have been illegally charging patients for treatment, says an audit released Wednesday that is certain to reinvigorate the debate over private health care in B.C. The province’s Medical Services Commission said it found more than 200 cases of so-called extra billing at Cambie Surgeries Corp. and at the Specialist Referral Clinic, both private clinics founded by controversial Vancouver doctor Brian Day. “The audit found evidence patients are being billed for publicly insured medical services, which is a contravention of sections 17 and 18 of the [B.C.] Medicare Protection Act,” said Tom Vincent, chairman of the Medical Services Commission. View article by Jonathan Fowlie, Vancouver Sun.

Doctors’ Class Action on Patient Fees could Cost B.C. $100M
Physicians not paid for treating patients who lost MSP coverage
Thousands of doctors are expected to join a $100-million class-action lawsuit over claims they were stiffed for fees by the province when they treated patients who were in arrears on Medical Services Plan (MSP) health insurance premiums. It’s taken 14 years of legal wrangling, but in an oral decision delivered late last week, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Elaine Adair gave the green light for the class-action suit to proceed. Read more here.

BCSC Panel Finds that Three B.C. Men Illegally Traded and Distributed Securities
A British Columbia Securities Commission panel has found that three B.C. men and a parking technology company illegally distributed securities when they raised approximately $3.5 million from investors who did not qualify for exemptions from securities laws. The panel found that Photo Violation Technologies Corp. (PVT), Frederick Lawrence Marlatt (a.k.a. Frederick Lawrence Mitschele), Michael Wallace Minor, and Michael Garfield Timothy (Tim) Minor traded in securities without being registered in B.C., and distributed those securities without filing a prospectus. All three men are B.C. residents. Between August 2005 and June 2008, Mitschele, Michael Minor and Tim Minor distributed PVT shares to approximately 322 investors, raising around $5.2 million. View the full article posted by Market Watch.

Mandatory Retirement for Law Partners
A partner is a partner and cannot be an employee of the partnership. That decision came today from the BC Court of Appeal in the Fasken Martineau case. The decision is of great interest to law firms, of course, and to other partnerships. But it is also important for employers generally. It helps to better understand who is and is not an employee entitled to human rights protections. The case began when Mitch McCormick, a long time partner of Fasken Martineau in Vancouver, challenged the mandatory retirement provisions of his partnership agreement. The firm asked the BC Human Rights Tribunal to dismiss the case on the basis that McCormick was a partner, not an employee, and therefore not covered by the Human Rights Code. View the full article by Earl Phillips with McCarthy Tetrault.

Sale of Goods Act – Statutory Warranties
The Sale of Goods Act serves as a supplementary role in regulating consumer contracts. Its main purpose is to protect buyers who may often be left without recourse against a negligent manufacturer, despite being supplied with a defective product. In the context of product liability claims, claims for breach of warranty under the Sale of Goods Act are often an afterthought to primary claims in negligence (negligent design, manufacture, inspection, failure to warn, etc.) as they can be limited in scope. When faced with a potential action for damages arising from a defective product, however, it is important to keep this type of claim in mind; claims for breach of warranty can often be much easier to prove. They also provide the buyer with recourse against a seller of a defective product. View the full article by Ryan Irving and Michael Toulch with Harper Grey LLP.

Local Government News:

How One B.C. Municipality is getting People to Actually Read Public Notices
A typical public notice from the village of Pemberton, B.C., used to look like this (refer to article link below): The font was tiny, contact information was buried in the text and the closest thing to an explanation about what was at stake was a vague statement of plans to, say, “designate certain lands for resource purposes.” A map meant to illustrate the site in question had no place names or easily recognizable geographical features. These days, however, the notices are bold, colour-blocked affairs with neatly compartmentalized information in large text. Headlines include: What is Zoning Bylaw Amendment Bylaw No. 696 2012 about? How will this affect me? How do I get more information? View National Post Article.

B.C. Small Towns Lure Doctors with Housing
The mayor of an interior town says rural communities in B.C. are outbidding each other to attract doctors, with some communities shelling out considerable amounts of money to secure comfortable temporary housing for new physicians. Jason Earle, acting mayor of Princeton, said a doctor shortage forced the closure of the local emergency room four nights a week. His town decided to try luring physicians by leasing a townhouse to make available to fill-in or temporary doctors, known as locums. "[It's] a fully-furnished deluxe accommodation for locums to stay at when they come to Princeton," Earle said. The town of Nakusp recently took a similar approach and bought a $280,000 home in hopes of enticing a doctor to relocate. View full story on CBC.

Vancouver Eyes New Affordable Housing Ideas
The City of Vancouver is considering some bold new ideas to try and solve its affordable housing crisis.
On Monday night, the city recognized thirteen entries from a competition launched in May. The designs set out a variety of plans to increase density while dropping real estate prices, from building long houses in lanes to constructing bridges of housing atop existing buildings. "Floating homes to underground dwellings — you name it, we heard it in the competition," said city manager Penny Ballem. Read more here.

Miscellaneous News:

B.C.-Wide Metal Theft Law Comes into Force July 23
Canada’s first provincial metal theft law and regulations come into effect Monday, July 23, with identification and reporting requirements designed to limit the resale market for stolen assets and ensure thieves are identified and prosecuted. Those wishing to sell regulated metals on or after that date must present valid identification. In turn, scrap dealers and recyclers who buy these metals will share purchase details with their local police. Officers will be able to use this information to compare against reports of stolen metal and seek court orders to obtain further information from dealers when required. View government news release.

Do Rooftop Cameras on Cop Cars Violate Privacy? - Privacy Legislation
B.C.'s privacy commissioner wants to know if police are complying with privacy laws when they use cameras mounted on patrol cars to photograph vehicles and licence plates. Privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham has launched an investigation, saying the so-called automated licence plate recognition program allows police to compare the photos to a list of licence plate numbers associated with people who are of interest to police. She said the investigation will focus on the use of the program by the Victoria Police Department, but a report expected to be published later this summer will provide guidance to all B.C. law enforcement agencies that use it. The program instantly notifies police when there is a match and has been used by the Victoria Police Department since March, but began as an RCMP program in 2006. Read more.

Use Detailed Contracts when Hiring Property Management Firms
Many strata corporations hire property-management companies to run their strata complexes. It's an understandable move, says Sandy Wagner, president of the Vancouver Island Strata Owners' Association. "Just look at the demographics of strata dwellers," Wagner says. "We either have seniors who are tired of working or young people who have no time to be involved because they have two jobs." Sometimes, hiring a property-management company is the only way things get done. Condo owners pay a proportional share of common expenses. The monthly fees typically pay for taxes, insurance, janitorial services, landscape maintenance and bank and legal fees. Some of the assessment goes toward a reserve fund for short-and long-term replacement items, such as carpeting and roofs. If the work doesn't deter hardy individuals, dealing with the legal complexities that come with running a strata might. With 58 pages of regulations and 126 pages of fine print, the B.C. Strata Property Act is not a light bedside read. See the full article here.

Court of Appeal Affirms Ruling Validating Developer's Approach to Local Government
Extractions and Approvals when Faced with a Potential Expropriation
The BC Court of Appeal [in July] affirmed the BC Supreme Court decision that is noteworthy for any developer who is engaged in a development approval process regarding lands a portion of which may be expropriated in the future. The developer in the case, Thunderbird Entertainment Ltd., was engaged in the rezoning, subdivision and development permit approval process in respect of lands a portion of which were potentially the subject of an expropriation by TransLink for what was at the time the proposed Golden Ears Bridge project. TransLink wanted a portion of the developer's lands for a widening of 200^th Street in Langley, which was one of the main roads leading onto the bridge. Langley initially asked the developer to "volunteer" title to the area in question in the context of its development approvals, but the developer refused. (If it had done so, TransLink would have had no need to acquire or expropriate.) Langley was not prepared to approve construction that would be in the path of an anticipated TransLink project, and so, in order to avoid what could well have been a lengthy delay, Thunderbird adjusted its development plans to accommodate the road widening and agreed to register a no build covenant against title that subjected development of the road area to a further municipal approval. Read the full article by Peter Kenward with Clark Wilson LLP.