Emergency powers beyond COVID-19: What we’ve learned during the pandemic — and what we still don’t know
January 18, 2022 | 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM Eastern
Zoom Meeting
Governments across Canada have made regulatory history since March 2020. By unlocking sweeping statutory powers under emergency and public health legislation, Cabinets and their ministers have been able to promulgate a remarkably wide array of orders to respond to COVID-19 and its effects on the economy and society. In this session, we will consider some of the legal frameworks that have enabled this real-time government decision making. We will also discuss the role of the courts in reviewing emergency orders, and the implications of the precedents established during the pandemic for future governance.
Moderator
Margaret Drent, Special Advisor, Innovation and Collaboration, College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists of Ontario
Margaret has held a variety of roles in the public sector at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, the Health Professions Regulatory Advisory Council, and the Law Society of Ontario. Margaret chaired the OBA Public Sector Lawyers Section in 2019-2020 and is the Past-Chair of the CBA Public Sector Lawyers Section.
Speakers
Eric S. Block is a partner in McCarthy Tétrault’s litigation group in Toronto. He is the co-author (with Adam Goldenberg) of Emergency Law in Canada: Commentary & Legislation (2021). His practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, agricultural litigation, product liability litigation, employment litigation, securities litigation, defamation and class actions. Eric has acted in a full range of litigation matters before courts, boards, and tribunals at all levels of trial and appeal, including the Supreme Court of Canada.
Adam Goldenberg is an associate in McCarthy Tétrault’s litigation group in Toronto. He is the co-author (with Eric S. Block) of Emergency Law in Canada: Commentary & Legislation (2021). His practice focuses on regulatory and commercial disputes, as well as constitutional litigation. He represents clients in private arbitrations, regulatory proceedings, and in trial and appellate courts across Canada, including in the Supreme Court of Canada, where he has appeared as counsel in more than a dozen appeals.
