Thomas W. R. Ross

The appellant, a freight forwarding company with branches across Canada, consolidates and deconsolidates freight but contracts with third-party carriers for interprovincial transport.

A union applied to the Alberta Labour Relations Board for a declaration that the company's labour relations were subject to federal jurisdiction.

The Board and the Court of Appeal held the company was a federal undertaking.

The Supreme Court of Canada allowed the appeal, holding that because the company does not itself perform interprovincial carriage of goods, it remains a local undertaking subject to provincial jurisdiction under s. 92(13) of the Constitution Act, 1867.

The Province of Alberta challenged the constitutionality of the federal Firearms Act, which required the licensing and registration of all firearms, including ordinary rifles and shotguns.

Alberta argued the law fell under provincial jurisdiction over property and civil rights.

The Supreme Court of Canada upheld the legislation as a valid exercise of Parliament's criminal law power.

The Court found the pith and substance of the law was directed to enhancing public safety by controlling access to firearms through prohibitions and penalties, and its effects on provincial jurisdiction were merely incidental.