Between 2000 and 2008, under Chief Justice McLachlin’s oversight, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) was unanimous in its disposition of division of powers issues in 25 rulings or reference opinions. Then, after the 2009 division in Fastfrate, 2009 SCC 53, the SCC divided sharply in all six federalism rulings released in 2010. In 2011, [...]

In 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada seemed to suggest that the utility of interjurisdictional immunity had been nearly exhausted. Justices Binnie and LeBel, in Canadian Western Bank v The Queen in Right of Alberta, [2007] 2 SCR 3 made reference to the doctrine’s asymmetrical application, propensity to create legal vacuums, and general superfluity. These [...]

Two appeals heard by the Supreme Court last week and now under reserve give the justices an opportunity to revisit an issue dear to many law students’ hearts (at least, the ones who sleep with a copy of Peter Hogg’s Constitutional Law of Canada under their pillows): interjurisdictional immunity. The cases, Attorney General of Quebec [...]

It is trite to say that the banking industry and the insurance industry have been staples of the Canadian economy for over a century. One would assume that by now Canadian law would be clear on where the regulation of these industries falls in the constitutional division of powers. Banking, after all, has been expressly [...]

The SCC has released two important decisions dealing with federalism and the division of powers: they discuss the scope of the interjurisdictional immunity doctrine and the use of the federal paramountcy doctrine. In Canadian Western Bank, et. al v. Her Majesty The Queen in Right of Alberta, the appellant banks challenged changes made to the [...]

With all the commentary The Court has been compiling on the SCC’s work I thought it might be interesting to spend some time speculating on one of the upcoming decisions yet to be handed down. In Canadian Western Bank, et al. v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Alberta we have an interesting clash. [...]