This case was heard in the New Brunswick Court of Appeal.

The Mr. Shredding Waste Management company had been operating a medical waste incineration plant since 1995, and by 1999 the plant was licensed to import medical waste from the four Atlantic provinces and the Province of Quebec. In 2000, the company applied to New Brunswick’s Minister of Environment and Local Government for permission to import and incinerate medical waste from Maine. The Minister replied that the company could only import and incinerate medical waste from Maine if it met emissions standards that were more strict than the Canada-wide standards that were in place at the time.

Although the company attempted to retrofit its facility so that it could meet those standards, it eventually became clear that the necessary retrofits would be very expensive. The company could not meet the standards with the adjustments that it was prepared to make, and so it requested that the Minister reconsider her decision. After repeated refusals by the Minister, the company applied for judicial review of the Minister’s decision. After reviewing the Minister’s jurisdiction and authority, as well as the procedures through which her decision had been made, the Court upheld the Minister’s decision.

When the company appealed to the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, the Court held that the lower court had come to the right decision. The company's appeal was therefore dismissed.

To read about this case in the New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench, go to Mr. Shredding Waste Management v. New Brunswick (Minister of Environment and Local Government), 2003 NBQB 243 (CanLII).

View the Decision on CanLII: www.canlii.org/en/nb/nbca/doc/2004/2004nbca69/2004nbca69.html

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