In late May, the Supreme Court of Canada the SCC denied an application for leave to appeal a decision of the Court of Appeal of Alberta the ABCA, which, in turn, had denied leave to appeal of the decision of the Court of King s Bench of Alberta the ABKB in Re Mantle Materials Group, Ltd, 2023 ABKB 488 Mantle KB. The decision in Mantle KB held that the interests of secured creditors are subordinate to environmental obligations pursuant to the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act EPEA, thus confirming that the priority of environmental obligations determined by the SCC in Orphan Well Association v Grant Thornton Ltd, 2019 SCC 5 Redwater applies beyond the oil and gas industry.
The Court of King s Bench for Saskatchewan has rejected another attempt by a rural municipality to gain priority in an oil and gas receivership. This follows the recent Alberta Decision in Orphan Well Association v Trident Exploration Corp, 2022 ABKB 839, where the Alberta Court of King s Bench confirmed that the abandonment and reclamation obligations owed to the Orphan Well Association and the Alberta Energy Regulator rank in priority to claims of municipalities for unpaid property taxes in insolvency proceedings.