The appellants challenged a Quebec Court of Appeal judgment that authorized a writ of evocation against the Canada Labour Relations Board.
The Board had found that two subsidiaries of a television broadcaster were federal undertakings subject to the Canada Labour Code.
The Supreme Court held that s. 18 of the Federal Court Act did not strip the Superior Court of its superintending power when the Board's decision concerned constitutional division of powers rather than administration of federal law.
On the merits, the Court found that selling sponsored air time and producing programs and commercials did not constitute broadcasting activities, and the subsidiaries' operations were not vitally or integrally related to the parent broadcaster's federal undertaking.
