Date of Award

12-3-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Laws (LLM)

Keywords

Environmental law, Precautionary principle, Administrative constitutionalism, Public participation, Environmental discourse

First Advisor

Wood, John Stephan

Abstract

This thesis examines debates about the precautionary principle in a tribunal and judicial review proceeding where environmental groups and individuals challenged a proposal to burn tires and other non-traditional fuel sources at a cement plant in Ontario, Canada. Chapter 1 explores scholarship on the precautionary principle and outlines the unique analytical contributions offered by administrative constitutionalism theory. Chapter 2 sets out the case study methodology employed by the author. Chapter 3 explains the legislative context. In chapters 4 through 9, each participant’s arguments are analyzed in relation to the two paradigms of administrative constitutionalism: Rational-Instrumentalist and Deliberative-Constitutive. This thesis establishes that administrative constitutionalism discourse dominates the construction and contestation of environmental risk; the author further argues that administrative constitutionalism’s discursive dominance has an exclusionary impact on the people, ideas and interests represented in environmental risk regulation.

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