Some Quick Fixes for a Broken Market, And then the Possibility of an Enhanced Electricity Market for Alberta

By: Nigel Bankes

Matters commented on: Market Surveillance Administrator, “Advice to support more effective competition in the electricity market: Interim action and an Enhanced Energy Market for Alberta”, (21 December 2023, released 11 March 2024) (MSA Advice); Supply Cushion Regulation, Alta Reg 42/2024, and Market Power Mitigation Regulation, Alta Reg 43/2024.

PDF Version: Some Quick Fixes for a Broken Market, And then the Possibility of an Enhanced Electricity Market for Alberta

On March 11, 2024 Nathan Neudorf, Alberta’s Minister of Affordability and Utilities, issued a press release announcing two temporary adjustments to Alberta’s electricity market rules to lessen opportunities for economic withholding and to create new rules for so-called “long lead time” generation assets with a view to further constrain opportunities for physical withholding. Long lead time generation assets are generators that require more than an hour to synchronize to the Alberta interconnected system (AIES). The non-availability of such assets during tight supply periods may effectively be a form of physical withholding of generation from the electricity market which serves to drive up the pool price. Economic withholding refers to the practice of bidding physically available generation into the pool “at prices sufficiently above marginal cost that the generator is not dispatched” also serving to drive up the pool price (MSA Advice at 4). Continue reading

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Bill C-332 and the Criminalization of Coercive Control

By: Jennifer Koshan

Matter Commented On: Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Study of Bill C-332, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (controlling or coercive conduct), 44th Parliament, 1st session

PDF Version: Bill C-332 and the Criminalization of Coercive Control

On February 26, 2024, I appeared before the federal Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights (JUST), which is currently studying Bill C-332, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (controlling or coercive conduct).

After hearing from a number of witnesses speaking in favour of, and cautioning against, the criminalization of coercive control (as well as taking positions in between), JUST begins its clause-by-clause study of the Bill today. This post sets out my prepared five-minute opening remarks to JUST, which were followed by a question and answer period. A recording of the hearing is available here and the minutes are available here. In addition, I submitted a 10-page written brief to JUST with colleagues Janet Mosher, Shushanna Harris, and Wanda Wiegers that is available here. Continue reading

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‘Negative Population Growth’ for Boreal Caribou in Alberta

By: Shaun Fluker

Report Commented On: First Report on the implementation of the Section 11 agreement for the conservation and recovery of the woodland caribou in Alberta (January 19, 2024)

PDF Version: ‘Negative Population Growth’ for Boreal Caribou in Alberta

In late January, Alberta issued the first Report on implementation of the Agreement for the conservation and recovery of the Woodland Caribou in Alberta, signed by Alberta and Canada under section 11 of the Species at Risk Act, SC 2002, c 29 [SARA] in October 2020. Commentators have noted that the Report reveals little progress by Alberta on protecting what is left of boreal caribou in this province. This criticism is certainly warranted, however the commitments made by Alberta in this Agreement will never result in progress towards halting the march of caribou towards extirpation (see “Canada and Alberta Agree to More Pie-In-The-Sky on Woodland Caribou”). What the Report does make transparent is: (1) Alberta continues to authorize the destruction of caribou habitat despite saying publicly that the government is committed to achieving population recovery; and (2) Alberta’s only real action plan to save caribou is to kill wolves. Continue reading

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Alphabow’s Regulatory Appeal: The AER Hearing Panel Misunderstood Their Job

By: Drew Yewchuk

Decision Commented on: Alphabow Energy Ltd: Regulatory Appeals of AER Orders (Regulatory Appeals 1943516 and 1943521), 2024 ABAER 001 (Alphabow)

PDF Version: Alphabow’s Regulatory Appeal: The AER Hearing Panel Misunderstood Their Job

This is a comment on an Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) hearing panel decision following a regulatory appeal of enforcement action against a company that was failing to meet the AER’s expectations for regulatory compliance.

Because of an administrative law mistake by the AER hearing panel, the decision is not what it should be. The AER’s handling of financially troubled corporations with large closure liabilities, significant unpaid debts, compliance troubles, and financial problems is a multi-billion dollar policy problem for Alberta. The decision should have assessed the AER’s policy approach to one of these companies, but the hearing panel misunderstood their role and assessed only procedural fairness and ‘reasonableness’ in the restricted sense that word applies on judicial review. As a result, the decision is less interesting than it should be, since it only finds that what the AER did was legal and says nothing about whether it was good policy or in the public interest. Continue reading

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The Online Harms Bill – Part 1 – Why We Need Legislation

By: Emily Laidlaw

Matter Commented On: Bill C-63, An Act to enact the Online Harms Act, to amend the Criminal Code, the Canadian Human Rights Act and An Act respecting the mandatory reporting of Internet child pornography by persons who provide an Internet service and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts, 1st Sess, 44th Parl, 2024 (Online Harms Bill)

PDF Version: The Online Harms Bill – Part 1 – Why We Need Legislation

This is the first in a series of posts that will unpack the Online Harms Bill C-63. In this first post, I will explain how and why we got here, as there is a significant amount of misunderstanding about what this Bill is about and why we might need it before the merits of this Bill are examined. It also important to contextualize the Bill within the law of intermediary liability, the law that applies to technology companies that facilitate transactions between third parties. Unlike many other jurisdictions, Canada operates in a relative legal vacuum in this space. Continue reading

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