Environmental Law Alert Blog

Through our Environmental Law Alert blog, West Coast keeps you up to date on the latest developments and issues in environmental law. This includes:

  • proposed changes to the law that will weaken, or strengthen, environmental protection;
  • stories and situations where existing environmental laws are failing to protect the environment; and
  • emerging legal strategies that could be used to protect our environment.

If you have an environmental story that we should hear about, please e-mail Andrew Gage. We welcome your comments on any of the posts to this blog – but please keep in mind our policies on comments.

2020 Canadian Law Blog Awards Winner

During the recent Canadian election a spokesperson for the Conservative Party said that if Justin Trudeau arrived at a key debate with his pants on he would have exceeded expectations. In fact, Mr. Trudeau not only found his pants, but impressed a great many Canadians and was elected Prime Minister on October 19th.

Water, water everywhere. At this wet time of year, it may not seem that protecting the amount of water flowing in streams and rivers throughout the province is a top priority.

In September, the Fort Nelson First Nation won a major legal challenge at the Environmental Appeal Board (EAB) that overturned a long term water license issued to gas giant Nexen Inc for hydraulic f

On October 19, 2015 Canada elected our 23rd Prime Minster, Justin Trudeau on a platform of change and open and honest government. The “open letter” storm that followed that election and the subsequent transition in government may inadvertently save Canada Post’s dwindling letter mail business.

The world is gearing up for climate talks in Paris in December.  It’s very exciting – it’s exciting that (in the words of our new Environment and Climate Change Minister) “Canada is back”; it’s even more ex

Since the recent federal election there has been much discussion (and as my colleague Eugene Kung notes, an abundance of open letters) about the Liberal party’s election promise to “review Canada’s environmental

WCEL welcomes today's public release of mandate letters from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for newly appointed federal Cabinet Ministers.

Last March I penned an open letter to Prime Minister Harper asking him to recognize that the global atmosphere was at least as essential to our national security as pipelines and highways.  We didn’t rece

The Liberal Party’s main campaign promises on environmental legal protection

Last week, at the close of the hearings for the legal challenges to the federal government’s Enbridge Northern Gateway approval, Justice Dawson thanked legal counsel for their submissions and added that she could recall, from her days as a lawyer, the feeling at the end of a case when the responsibility shifts from the lawyers who have made the