This case was heard in the New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench (Trial Division).

After New Brunswick’s Minister of the Environment approved the construction of a new wastewater treatment system for a local hospital, the Town of Woodstock and the Village of Perth Andover applied for judicial review of the Minister’s decision. The Town and Village alleged that the environmental assessment of the proposed project should have involved a socio-impact study of the effects on their communities, and they also argued that the Minister had breached her duty to notify the communities of the impact.

The Court determined that the appropriate standard of review by which to assess the Minister’s decision was the standard of patent unreasonableness. After consideration, the Court held that it was within the Minister’s jurisdiction to determine the scope of the project and the environmental assessment that the project required, and it also held that the Minister had not breached her duty to inform. Having found no grounds upon which to interfere with the Minister’s decision, the Court dismissed the application for judicial review.

View the Decision on CanLII: www.canlii.org/en/nb/nbqb/doc/2005/2005nbqb184/2005nbqb184.html

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