The Crown brought an application to unseal documents held by an accounting firm (PWC) that were subject to a production order in a fraud investigation.
The respondent claimed blanket solicitor-client and litigation privilege over the entire PWC file, arguing the accountants were retained by his law firm to assist with a CRA voluntary disclosure application.
The court rejected the blanket privilege claim, finding that the accountants were primarily performing independent accounting functions (preparing tax returns) rather than acting solely as a conduit for legal advice.
The court ordered a document-by-document review by appointed referees to identify any specific privileged communications.
