The appellant oil companies applied to the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board for a significant discovery declaration (SDD) based on an offshore well that had already been the subject of an earlier SDD.
The Board's Chairman summarily rejected the application, stating that a new SDD required the drilling of a fresh well.
The Supreme Court of Canada held that while the Chairman breached the duty of fairness by rejecting the novel legal argument without affording the appellants a hearing, the statutory scheme clearly required a fresh well for a new SDD.
Because remitting the matter to the Board would be futile given this legal conclusion, the Court declined to grant the requested discretionary remedies of certiorari and mandamus.
