Appeal concerning whether bargaining rights and obligations under Quebec labour legislation transferred when janitorial service contracts for school cleaning were terminated and re-awarded to a new contractor having no legal relationship with the prior contractors.
The Court held that the labour commissioner’s interpretation of ss. 45 and 46 was jurisdictional and subject to judicial review, and replaced the preliminary-question formalism with a pragmatic and functional analysis focused on legislative intent, expertise, and statutory purpose.
It further held that s. 45 requires continuity of the undertaking and a voluntary legal relation between successive employers involving the same undertaking or part of it.
Because the competing contractors were separate undertakings and no legal relation existed between them, no transfer of rights and obligations occurred.
The appeal was dismissed with costs.
