Claude Bouchard

The Supreme Court of Canada delivered an oral judgment dismissing the appeal from the Quebec Court of Appeal regarding the interpretation of s. 76 of the Canadian Wheat Board Act and the division of powers concerning flour mills.

The Court adopted the reasons given by the Court of Appeal of Quebec and dismissed the appeal with costs.

The appellant, Imperial Oil, formerly operated a petroleum depot on a site that was later sold and developed for residential use.

When hydrocarbon contamination was discovered, the present owners sued the developers, the city, and the Minister of the Environment.

The Minister subsequently ordered Imperial Oil to prepare a site characterization study at its own expense under the polluter-pay principle.

Imperial Oil challenged the order, arguing the Minister was in a conflict of interest and breached the duty of impartiality because he was a defendant in the civil suits.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, holding that the Minister was exercising a discretionary, political power to protect the public interest, not an adjudicative function, and therefore the strict judicial standard of impartiality did not apply.

The appellant, a journalist, requested access to a document detailing the expenses of Members of the National Assembly.

The request was denied under ss. 34 and 57 of the Act Respecting Access to Documents Held by Public Bodies and the Protection of Personal Information.

The Commission d’accès à l’information upheld the refusal, finding the document was produced 'for' a Member and that Members are not 'public bodies'.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, holding that the standard of review for the Commission's decisions is reasonableness, and that the Commissioner's interpretations of ss. 34 and 57 were reasonable.