The SCC Monitor (09/02/2015)

The Supreme Court of Canada recently released several judgments that are of interest to Canadian businesses and professions.

In Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v. Saskatchewan, 2015 SCC 4, a majority of the Supreme Court upheld the right to strike pursuant to the s. 2(d) freedom of association right under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the "Charter"). It consequently found that The Public Service Essential Services Act, which contained an absolute ban on the right to strike for "essential services employees" was unconstitutional. In its ruling, the majority underscored the importance of the right to strike in promoting equality in labour bargaining processes. This case sends a strong message to policy makers throughout Canada that any legislation limiting the right to strike will come under careful Charter scrutiny by the courts.

The Court also recently heard two RCMP related Charter cases. In the first one, Mounted Police Association of Ontario v. Canada (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 1, the Supreme Court ruled that s. 96 of the RCMP Act, along with the Public Service Labour Relations Act , which excludes RCMP members from the definition of "employee", are both unconstitutional and violate s. 2 (d) of the Charter. The Court found that the Staff Relations Representative Program for RCMP members, which is subject to s. 96 of the RCMP Act, infringes s. 2(d) of the Charter by failing to provide RCMP members with any ability to advance their own interests or exercise their freedom to association. Parliament has 12 months to amend the legislation.

In the second case, Meredith v. Canada (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 2, a majority of the Court found that the Expenditure Restraint Act, which was enacted in March 2009 and imposed limits on public sector wage increases from 2008 to 2010, did not infringe on s. 2(d) of the Charter. The majority decision explained that cutting back scheduled wage increases without prior consultation was not an infringement on the right to collective bargaining, noting that RCMP members continued to have a process for consultation about their compensation.

Although the Supreme Court does not hear competition cases often, in Tervita Corp. v. Canada (Commissioner of Competition), 2015 SCC 3, a majority of the Court overturned a Competition Tribunal order that had required Tervita to divest its interest in Babkirk Landfill Services Inc., a company it acquired in 2011 in the course of expanding its waste...