Summary

Keywords

Civil procedure — Parties — Standing — Public interest standing — Appeals — Powers of Court of Appeal — How should standing be assessed on an application to strike a claim — What limitations are on litigants bringing constitutional challenges based on reasonable hypothetical applications of impugned legislation — Are these limitations identical to those on litigants alleging legislation creates a chilling effect on Charter-protected activities due to the potential for an offender to be charged under the law — Does the lack of a fully developed factual setting automatically preclude a court from granting public interest standing — What limitations are on an appellate court respecting raising a new ground of appeal?

Summary

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

The Alberta Union of Public Employees and some of its officers filed a statement of claim challenging the constitutionality of Alberta’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act, SA 2020, c. C-32.7. The Crown applied to have the claim struck on the basis it is an abuse of process because the union and its officers do not have standing to bring the claim and the pleadings do not disclose a reasonable claim. A chambers judge dismissed the application. The Court of Appeal allowed an appeal and struck the claim.

Lower Court Rulings