Democracy Watch applies for judicial review of a decision made by the Federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner. The Commissioner had ruled that former prime minister Justin Trudeau had not broken the law when he took part in a cabinet decision to award the WE Charity a $900 million contract to organize as summer work program for youth at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Water Not Coal Citizen Initiative (Corb Lund) files an application for judicial review in the Alberta Court of King’s Bench, challenging the Chief Electoral Officer’s decision to deem the Water Not Coal Citizens’ Initiative Petition unsuccessful. The application argues that the decision was unreasonable, procedurally unfair, and inconsistent with the purpose of Alberta’s Citizen Initiative Act (CIA), which is intended to facilitate public participation in direct democracy.

A former School Trustee applies for judicial review of disciplinary decisions of the Red Deer School Board disqualifying her as a member of the Board. The proceedings arose from the applicant’s decision to post an image on her personal Facebook account which juxtaposed a historical image of children waving swastika flags with a contemporary image of children waving

rainbow pride flags. The caption on the post read “brainwashing is brainwashing.”

Alberta landowners apply for judicial review of the Alberta Energy Regulator’s decision setting the Orphan Well levy and chronic underfunding of that statutory levy. The applicant’s allege that the regulator has improperly delegated its legal responsibility to set the levy rates to Alberta's political executive and allows for too much industry influence. It further accuses the regulator of improperly taking into account factors like commodity prices and the health of the industry when setting the levy.

What is “judicial review”? What is its importance and what role does it play in the rule of law?