A professional accounting body sought a statutory injunction under s. 30(1) of the Certified General Accountants Act, 2010 to prevent the respondents from using the designation “CGMA” (Chartered Global Management Accountant) in Ontario.
The applicant argued the designation contravened s. 26 of the Act by incorporating the protected initials “CGA” and implying the holder was a Certified General Accountant.
The court applied modern statutory interpretation principles and the rule that statutes creating professional monopolies must be strictly construed.
It held that the specific quoted designations protected by the statute did not extend to the acronym CGMA and that the designation did not imply a Certified General Accountant.
The court found the applicant failed to establish a contravention of the Act on a balance of probabilities.
