Christopher J. Matthews

Canadian National Railway Company moved for a stay of the Court of Appeal's June 2018 order requiring CN to reopen the James Street Bridge in Thunder Bay for vehicle traffic and maintain it in accordance with a 1906 agreement between Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company and the Town of Fort William.

CN sought the stay pending its application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The motion judge declined to grant the stay, finding that CN's leave application lacked sufficient merit to warrant a stay despite CN's potential irreparable harm from financial commitments to reconstruction work.

The City of Thunder Bay appealed a decision dismissing its application for a declaration that Canadian National Railway Company breached a 1906 agreement by refusing to reopen the James Street Swing Bridge for motor vehicle traffic following a 2013 fire.

The bridge is a combined railway and roadway structure.

The application judge found that the parties intended the bridge to be maintained only for the type of traffic existing in 1906 (streetcars, horses, and carts), not modern motor vehicles.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, finding the application judge's interpretation was unreasonable and tainted by extricable errors of law.

The court held that the perpetual right to cross the bridge for "vehicle traffic" and the obligation to maintain it "in perpetuity" must include modern motor vehicles, not merely those existing in 1906.

The court also found the application judge erred in placing the onus on Thunder Bay to provide specific proposals for making the bridge safe for vehicles, when that obligation rested with CN as the bridge operator.

The defendants brought a motion under Rules 25.10 and 30.04(2) of the Rules of Civil Procedure seeking document production and particulars regarding an alleged agreement of purchase and sale for parkland.

The court found the plaintiff's responses to the document inspection requests satisfactory, as the plaintiff produced the draft agreements and emails relied upon.

However, the court ordered the plaintiff to provide further particulars regarding the facts relied upon to support the allegation that the unsigned draft agreement was binding and properly entered into.

The City of Thunder Bay applied for declaratory orders and specific performance to compel Canadian National Railway Company (CN) to reopen and perpetually maintain the James Street Swing Bridge for vehicular traffic.

The City argued that CN's perpetual maintenance obligation included upgrading the bridge to modern safety standards.

CN contended its obligation was limited to the original 1906 design and that reopening required significant structural reconfiguration beyond maintenance.

The Fort William First Nation supported the City's position.

The court dismissed the application, finding the City's proposals for reopening the bridge vague and lacking specificity, and that the evidence did not clearly define the required work or establish that such work fell within CN's contractual maintenance obligation.

The applicants sought an interlocutory injunction reinstating two students expelled from a private school for possessing and consuming marijuana on campus.

The expulsions were imposed pursuant to the school’s zero‑tolerance drug policy contained in contractual enrollment documents.

The applicants argued that the court had jurisdiction under the Judicial Review Procedure Act or, alternatively, through contract law, and that procedural fairness required notice and a hearing before expulsion.

The court held that the decision of a private school to expel students was not the exercise of a statutory power of decision and therefore was not subject to judicial review under the JRPA.

Applying the RJR‑MacDonald test, the court found no serious issue to be tried because the contractual documents clearly incorporated the zero‑tolerance policy and the misconduct was admitted.

The motion for interlocutory reinstatement was dismissed.