2015: The SCC Year In Review

This article summarizes Gowlings' picks for the most important decisions from the Supreme Court of Canada in 2015.

Carter v. Canada (Attorney General) The SCC determined that the federal criminal laws are inapplicable to physician-assisted dying. The Court decided that s. 241(b) of the Criminal Code, which pertains to aiding suicide, and s. 14 of the Criminal Code, which pertains to consenting to the infliction of death, were void to the extent that they denied individuals the right to seek a physician's assistance in dying and therefore violated the s. 7 right to life, liberty and security. In doing so, the SCC determined that it was properly open to the trial judge to reconsider the Rodriguez decision in light of new legal issues and fundamental changes in legislative and social facts and stated "stare decisis is not a straightjacket that condemns the law to stasis". Following the Carter decision, gravely ill individuals will now have the right to seek an assisted death within the medical context of a physician-patient relationship. 2015 SCC 5

R. v. Smith The accused challenged the constitutionality of the prohibition on possession of non-dried forms of medical marijuana on the basis that it limits the s. 7 Charter right to liberty of the person. He was charged with possession and possession for purpose of trafficking of cannabis contrary to ss. 4(1) and 5(2) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act because he sold edible and topical cannabis products contrary to the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations, which limits lawful possession of medical marihuana to dried marihuana. The SCC found that the prohibition deprived medical marihuana users of their liberty by imposing a threat of imprisonment and by foreclosing reasonable medical choices to prescribed medical marihuana users. Further, the SCC stated "by forcing a person to choose between a legal but inadequate treatment and an illegal but more effective one, the law also infringes security of the person". As a result of the decision, the prohibition against non-dried forms of medical marihuana was declared of no force and effect. 2015 SCC 34

Tervita Corp. v. Canada (Commissioner of Competition) A majority of the Court held that the relevant merger was likely to substantially prevent competition. The SCC found that the Tribunal and the Federal Court of Appeal incorrectly applied the efficiencies defence under section 96 of the Competition Act ("Act"), as the Commissioner of Competition ("Commissioner") used the improper methodology to quantify the merger's anti-competitive effects. The SCC upheld the Tribunal's conclusion that the Tervita-Babkirk merger was likely to substantively prevent competition and clarified the two-part test for analyzing a "prevention" of competition as well as the application of the efficiencies defence under section 96. The SCC used a forward-looking analysis in determining whether the merger would prevent competition and clarified the methodology to determine whether efficiency gains will be "greater than, and will offset" the anti-competitive effect of the merger. The case of Tervita represents the first SCC merger jurisprudence in seventeen years. It also marks the very first time the SCC has directly explored the merger efficiency defence provisions of the Act. 2015 SCC 3

Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v. Saskatchewan The SFL and the intervener unions challenged the constitutional validity of The Public Service Essential Services Act ("PSESA") and The Trade Union Amendment Act ("TUA"). The PSESA limits...