When A Tribunal's Reasons Won't Fly: SCC In Lukács Addresses Supplemental Reasons And Public Interest Standing

In Delta Air Lines Inc. v. Lukács, 2018 SCC 2 ("Lukács"), the Supreme Court of Canada addressed two important issues in administrative law. First, the Court addressed the role that a Tribunal's reasons play in judicial review for substantive error. Second, the Court addressed principles relating to public interest standing, including standing before regulatory tribunals.

Background

Dr. Lukács was a self-described airline passenger advocate. Although not an obese person himself, he took issue with a policy of the appellant airline that sometimes resulted in obese passengers being moved to a different section of the airplane or bumped from the flight altogether. Dr. Lukács filed a complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency (the "Agency"), which regulates airlines in Canada. The Agency dismissed Dr. Lukács' complaint on the grounds that he did not satisfy the tests for private interest standing or public interest standing that have been developed by and for the civil courts in Canada.

The Federal Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, held that the Agency's decision was unreasonable, and remitted the matter back to the Agency for redetermination (2016 FCA 220). The Federal Court of Appeal looked at the Agency's enabling statute, which was designed to let "any person" make a complaint to the Agency. The Federal Court of Appeal held that a person did not need to be directly personally affected by a decision of the Agency in order to bring a complaint. The Federal Court of Appeal held that the Agency had fettered its discretion by adopting the public interest standing test from the civil courts. The airline appealed to the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court of Canada Majority Decision

Chief Justice McLachlin wrote the majority decision dismissing the appeal and holding the Agency's decision unreasonable. The two key points addressed were the role of reasons in judicial review for substantive error, and the principles governing public interest standing.

First, the majority was emphatic that, in this case, the reviewing court could not substitute its own reasons for the reasons that were given by the tribunal.[1] The majority stated that "[s]upplementing reasons may be appropriate in cases where the reasons are either non-existent or insufficient." (para 23). The majority explained it like this:

[W]hile a reviewing court may supplement the reasons given in support of an administrative decision, it cannot ignore or replace the reasons actually...