May 16, 2016

The Challenges and Benefits of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) for Municipalities

The growing interest in, and deployment of, distributed energy resources (“DER”) has been thought to be of interest, albeit for different reasons, primarily to consumers and to local electricity distribution utilities. However, DER has important implications for municipalities, both in their capacity as the owners of those distribution utilities and as a means to promote both conservation and the development of contaminated properties.

May 11, 2016

Panama Papers and Offshore Accounts: Window of Opportunity to Make a Voluntary Disclosure Closing

Canadian residents are required to report worldwide income. Furthermore, Canadian residents are generally required to annually file a special information return for any year that they held, at any time in that year, “specified foreign property” that had a cost exceeding $100,000. A failure to report such income or file any such return makes the Canadian resident liable to significant penalties (for which interest accrues daily) and potentially open to criminal prosecution.

Mar 28, 2016

B.C. Court of Appeal Upholds Regulatory College’s By-laws

The British Columbia Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Sobeys West Inc. v. College of Pharmacists of British Columbia[1] is an important decision for regulators in two respects. First, it recognizes the latitude regulators ought to be given when enacting by-laws. Second, it clarifies the nature of the evidence that regulators will need to provide when their by-laws are challenged on judicial review. On the whole, the decision comes as a welcome confirmation of the deference that courts will show to regulators when they enact by-laws in the bona fide exercise of their authority.