Overturning Precedent Is (Still) Hard To Do

Just before the holidays, on December 20, 2017, the Court of Appeal rendered its decision in 156158 Canada inc. c. Attorney General of Canada, 2017 QCCA 2055. The appellants, 11 Montreal-area businesses charged with breaching provisions of the Charter of the French Language ("CFL") and the Regulation defining the scope of the expression "markedly predominant" for the purposes of the Charter of the French language ("CFL Rules") challenged the constitutionality of various provisions of the CFL and the CFL Rules relating to French language requirements in advertising, on packaging and on websites.

The essential issue before the Court was whether it should reconsider the Supreme Court's decisions in Ford v. Quebec (Attorney General), [1988] 2 S.C.R. 712 and Devine v. Quebec (Attorney General)...