Drew Yewchuk's avatar

Drew Yewchuk

@drewyewchuk.bsky.social

62 followers 38 following 50 posts

Law Masters student researching government secrecy and publicity, public interest lawyer, advocate for access to information law, cold war history enthusiast.

Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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It seems like a good comparison, but not for the reason they think. By the time LBJ stepped down, his foreign policy support for a terrible war had doomed him and his party politically, and they were destined to lose an election to a criminal.

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ABlawg UCalgary's avatar ABlawg UCalgary @ablawg.bsky.social
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New Post: Misunderstanding Cooperative Federalism: Environment and Climate Change Canada Unreasonably Failed to Protect Migratory Bird Habitat

ablawg.ca/2024/02/19...

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ABlawg UCalgary's avatar ABlawg UCalgary @ablawg.bsky.social
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New Post: The Department of Energy and Minerals Finally Releases the Text of a Ministerial Order Delegating Technical CCS-Related Decision-Making Authority to the Alberta Energy Regulator

ablawg.ca/2024/01/29...

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Reposted by Drew Yewchuk

Reposted by Drew Yewchuk

Patrick Monahan's avatar Patrick Monahan @pattymo.com
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NigelBankes's avatar NigelBankes @nigelb.bsky.social
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Benga/Northback, the proponent of the Grassy Mountain coal project, has received another setback. The Alberta courts dismissed its attempt to appeal the AER/JRP’s decision last year canlii.ca/t/jm1d3; and now the court has dismissed its application for judicial review. canlii.ca/t/k1lkk

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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Human history is not the story of a gradual path of progress, but the forensic reconstruction of a 50-car pileup of nonsense and errors.

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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Due to their belief that a carbon tax is communist ideology, the Conservative party voted against a free-trade deal with a country at war with Russia.
I understand the historical process by which we got to this outcome, but reading about it feels like having a concussion.
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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I assumed this was a joke, but I can't tell for sure after flipping theough the website...

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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From a Parks Canada 2022 impact assessment.

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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To protect the environment, staff was instructed not to stomp on the toads.

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David V. Wright's avatar David V. Wright @davevwright.bsky.social
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Good (and sad) eye, Drew. And if they did they’d only say axe the tax because it can’t stop wildfires. Because they can’t get their heads around a complex collective action problem, let alone notions of responsibility and how to use law and economics to address such. Systemic ignorance and denial.

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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AER ordered the suspension of all assets owned by Scavenger Energy GP Inc. In November 2019, the company had an LLR of 0.24. Their LLR had been below 1.00 since 2015.
www1.aer.ca/complianceda...

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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It would be hard to overstate how poorly thought out U.S. foreign policy has been in the middle east. There are multiple dictatorships in the region that have better records on diplomacy than the U.S.

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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If I find the person who made this all-blue pie chart I'm going to swat them with a rolled up newspaper.

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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Often I try to work up a political critique of Canadian law and get distracted by more straightforward critiques: Canadian law tends to be poorly written and confusing. The Species at Risk Act is an ugly mess even before you realize it barely works.

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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Lol. I'm not quite alone - there's a few other academics use FOI/ATI. But the only other one I know working on environmental issues is Shin Imai, focused on Canadian government support for mining abroad.

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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(not a journalist - but...) Absolutely. Encountering obviously wrong or unfair government policies rarely makes people give up - the sense of indignation drives them to further action on the same point.

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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I was involved in two impact assessments in Alberta (neither under the IAA though) - and I cannot figure out how they would be different following this decision. I'm not even sure they would be any different...

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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This is a problem for the feds in passing environmental protection legislation, but also a problem for major resource project proponents, who will have difficulty determining the federal role in approving their projects. I have a hard time foreseeing what the net impact is.

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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My view on the IAA case, after having read it and several commentaries on it, is that it is a confusing outcome. I think it splits jurisdiction over the environment from mostly shared to mostly divided (see graph).

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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I have no confidence the parks service could rustle up six swans on a dime anymore. They'd say stuff like "That's not our job" and "what the hell?"

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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Oh dear... I see why we ended up where we are now... More like the National Pranks service in the early decades. (much more inspiring work is done later...)

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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1951 in Canada: a time when a Minister would call up the federal Wildlife Service and ask them to catch six live swans for the Queen...

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NigelBankes's avatar NigelBankes @nigelb.bsky.social
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Here’s a thread on the SCC’s majority opinion in the Impact Assessment Reference Case today. While portrayed by some as a great win for AB I focus here on those elements of the majority opinion that confirm the validity of important elements of the federal legislation.1/

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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I was surprised when I heard the outcome, but by the time I reached the end of the decision I had the same view as you. It is not what I expected, but it is a fair reading of the division of powers.

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NigelBankes's avatar NigelBankes @nigelb.bsky.social
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Here’s my ABlawg post detailing why the Alberta Energy Regulator has a legal duty to reject new applications from a Gina Rinehart controlled Australian coal mining company to do new exploratory drilling on the Grassy Mountain coal deposit in Crowsnest Pass.

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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It's a really good think I didn't stake money on this because I was totally wrong..

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ABlawg UCalgary's avatar ABlawg UCalgary @ablawg.bsky.social
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New Post: Freedom of Information: Brokering Access for Records on Oil and Gas Liability Management at the AER

ablawg.ca/2023/10/11...

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NigelBankes's avatar NigelBankes @nigelb.bsky.social
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Re Grassy Mountain. Dead parrot, dead mine.

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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1) 5 justice majority will uphold IAA, but will include vague statements about limits of federal powers that will muddle the impact of the precedent. 2) 5-1-1, Côté and Rowe dissents. 3) The majority and Rowe will spend pages and pages dealing with ABCA language. Côté will not touch it.

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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I'll stick to post WW2. Perhaps mid-1994? Somalia affair inquiry and related cover up, along with the Alberta Court of Appeal decision in Vriend. What would be your second place for a post WW2 low point?

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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I did not anticipate an 'Alberta connection' when reading a chapter on the post WW2 British Empire in Palestine.

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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Today I learned that from 1975-1979, the Solicitor General of Alberta was Roy Farran, who had previously worked for the British colonial police in the mandate of Palestine, and while doing that job is widely thought to have murdered someone and had it covered up: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Far...

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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Can Alberta permanently withhold their communications with counsel for Syncrude about the sentencing process under settlement privilege, or does settlement privilege end with the litigation and all related litigation? (2/2)

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Drew Yewchuk's avatar Drew Yewchuk @drewyewchuk.bsky.social
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Alberta Justice is seeking judicial review of this decision, so I guess I'll have my name on a judicial review against Alberta Justice. The biggest issue is settlement privilege: (1/2) Alberta (Justice) (Re), 2023 CanLII 89956 (AB OIPC), <canlii.ca/t/k0g0k>

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