The appellants, members of a dairy cooperative, appealed a decision declaring that the cooperative was not required to include milk sold via export contracts when calculating patronage returns under s. 55(5) of the Co-operative Corporations Act.
The Court of Appeal applied a contextual approach to statutory interpretation, finding that the term 'deliver' in s. 55(5) requires a transfer of title.
Because export contracts allow producers to direct milk to entities other than the cooperative without transferring title to the marketing board, the statutory presumption of a direct business link does not apply.
The appeal was dismissed.
