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Papers by Wade MacLauchlan

McGill-Queen's University Press eBooks, May 1, 2015

The Dalhousie Law Journal, 1987

This essay reflects on the role of law in the process of institutional change. It also considers ... more This essay reflects on the role of law in the process of institutional change. It also considers how multidisciplinary research could contribute to a better understanding of law and its relationship to change. Finally, it addresses the possibilities for conducting such research in Atlantic Canada. The 1990s will be a decade of dramatic institutional change. In New Brunswick in 1992, 43 school boards were amalgamated into 15 regional boards. In Newfoundland, the elimination of separate schools is under serious consideration. In Prince Edward Island, five school boards may be amalgamated into one. In Nova Scotia, "rationalization" is the watchword in higher education. Comparable changes have taken place, or are imminent, in the health care sector. For that matter, as we deal with ever more urgent fiscal imperatives, the changes to date in education or health care may turn out to be only interim cost-cutting measures compared to what is to come. On the question of Maritime "union," there is a commitment to more integrated regional administration.1 The general expectation in the public sector is for downsizing and greater efficiency. There is a parallel expectation of more focused and more effective action. The private sector is undergoing an even greater measure of institutional change. The offshore fishery has collapsed from overcapacity. The forestry sector cannot sustain its current scale. Agriculture supports fewer and larger producers, with trade liberalization looming as a major menace to dairy, poultry and egg sectors. Jobs and services are continually being scaled back by airlines and railways. These developments have implications not only for the immediate economic actors, but for institutions up to and including whole communities. At the same time as resource-based industries come to terms with excess capacity and a declining resource base, there are new opportunities in the service sector and in technology, communications and knowledge-based industries. These developments require new kinds of public and private institutions. The one thing that is certain is that change will continue. Restructuring, competitiveness, globalization and partnerships are the new imperatives. Innovation is in. Law plays a critical role in bringing about dramatic institutional change, and many of the functions it serves are tough ones. Law provides the "force" in a civil society for the closure of hospital beds, the termination of employment, the Dean of Law, University of New Brunswick.

Ideas, Institutions, and Interests

This article, and its companion, were commissioned by the CBA as contributions to the questions r... more This article, and its companion, were commissioned by the CBA as contributions to the questions raised presently in the constitutional Reference to the Supreme Court of Canada.

When I was a law student at the University of New Brunswick between 1978 and 1981, and later dean... more When I was a law student at the University of New Brunswick between 1978 and 1981, and later dean and professor of law at UNB during the 1990s, I did not envisage being invited one day to deliver the Viscount Bennett Lecture. It is an honour to be here today as the 2015 Viscount Bennett lecturer and to return to this wonderful lecture room where I have studied, taught and participated in moot courts. The honour is amplified by the presence of so many long-time friends and colleagues, and by the fact that this room is now named for our great friend and supporter, the late Mary Louise Lynch, Q.C. For this Lecture, I have chosen to speak about Maritime Cooperation. This is a topic of longstanding personal and professional interest, with native roots in Prince Edward Island and significant periods of time as a law professor in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. You might say that I am a Maritime patriot. My interest in the subject of Maritime cooperation has been stirred and fed by almost three years spent researching and writing the political biography of Alex B. Campbell, Prince Edward Island's longest-serving premier. Campbell was in office during an especially robust period of regional cooperation and institution-building in the 1960s and 1970s, including the establishment of the Council of Maritime Premiers. 1 My own career has evolved, with my becoming Premier of Prince Edward Island in February of this year. That role has included the opportunity to chair regional premiers' meetings, with further meetings to take place in the near future, and to deal at an interprovincial level on files including energy, health, the economy, immigration, transportation, education and other critical areas. In terms of Maritime cooperation, we are in a time of unprecedented opportunity, especially given shared political alignments and strong interpersonal chemistry among Premiers Brian Gallant, Stephen McNeil, myself and our recently-elected Prime Minister Trudeau. This will be the ultimate point of today's Viscount Bennett Lecture: that we are at a unique historical juncture that presents a critical opportunity to work together as a region. In doing so, we can build upon a long-standing community of interest, draw lessons from a history of cooperation, and address issues that are both chronic and existential.

For the past three decades, the field of administrative law has been one of the greatest contribu... more For the past three decades, the field of administrative law has been one of the greatest contributors to the workload of the Supreme Court of Canada. During that period, the Court has handed down at least ten cases per year dealing with mainstream issues of judicial review. This substantial body of jurisprudence, totalling some three hundred decisions since 1970, has pointed the way to a transformation in Canadian administrative law.

Constitutional Forum / Forum constitutionnel, 2011

JUDGING THE JUDGES CANADA’S NEWEST SUPREME COURT JUDGE: HON. MICHEL BASTARACHE

Inside and Outside Canadian Administrative Law, 2006

The University of Toronto Law Journal, 1990

The University of Toronto Law Journal, 1986

As U.N.B.'s Faculty turns 100, it is timely to reflect on the experience of the first century, an... more As U.N.B.'s Faculty turns 100, it is timely to reflect on the experience of the first century, and to look ahead to important developments and challenges. The Law School's first 100 years have been marked by a steady sense of purpose, by commitment to local education and service, by dedication to excellence in teaching, and by the continuing development of a culture of scholarship and integration within the University. The language of dedication and steadiness, not to mention struggle, falls short of the imperialistic fare we have come to expect of centennials. But it is the language that best captures the experience of U.N.B.'s Law School through its first century. The preeminent story has been one of struggle, and of steady advancement. And the net result is a quality academic enterprise whose survival is assured, and whose reputation for excellence continues to grow. A full appreciation of what has been accomplished at U.N.B.'s Law School over its first 100 years is reserved for those who witnessed the development of the School in more rudimentary times. The magnificence of the classrooms, the computer lab, the Law Library, and other physical amenities is most apparent to those who taught and studied in the Provincial Building in Saint John, home of the School until 1953.1 The U.N.B. Law Journal is today recognized as a leading student-run academic publication; but its contemporary quality and scale are best appreciated by those who worked hard to develop the Journal in its earlier phases.2 Contemporary admissions statistics are generally impressive; but a full measure of gratification belongs to the faculty members and others who strove through recruitment and scholarship support to build the student body from Faculty o f Law, University o f New Brunswick, D ean (1991-) fr a n k lin Leger, w hose class spent its first two years in the Provincial Building, com m ents that faculty and students were "somewhat awestruck and not quite believing in their good fortune" when they moved in to their new prem ises at Beaverbrook H ouse in the fall o f 1953. "T he Sixth D ean " (1990) 39 U .N .B. L.J. 232 at 235. Mary Louise Lynch, Q C., who was Registrar o f the Law School and a leading actor in the acquisition and renovation of Beaverbrook H ouse, described the former quarters in the Provincial Building as "rather dingy" "Convocation A ddress," U .N .B ., 17 O ctober 1981. R.G.L. Fairweather recalls the building as "gloomy and grimy", especially due to the fact that the building was heated with lower grade N ew Brunswick soft coal: "U.N.B. Faculty of Law; A Recollection Forty Years Onward" (1990) 39 U .N .B. L.J. 243. R eflections by the two full-time professors of the day on the significance of the 1953 acquisition of new prem ises can be found in G. A.