Case information

None.

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.

Administrative law - Tribunals - Standard of review - Interim and final orders - Right of appeal - Retroactive orders - What are the criteria for identifying whether the standard of review jurisprudence has already satisfactorily determined the degree of deference to be accorded with regard to a particular category of question by a particular decision-maker? - How does the existence of a right of appeal with leave on a question of law or a question of jurisdiction affect the role of deference within the standard of review analysis? - Whether and in what circumstances may a decision-maker, confronted with the need for transitional measures, substitute retroactive orders for the mechanism established by Parliament?

The Canadian Transportation Agency (the “Agency”) was empowered under An Act to Amend the Canada Transportation Act, S.C. 2000, c. 16, s. 57, with adjusting one aspect of the volume-related composite price index (the “Index”), which is used in capping the revenue earned by the Canadian National Railway Company (“CN”) and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company (“CP”) for the transportation of western grain. The Agency’s decisions implementing s. 57 gave rise to several appeals which were heard together.

In particular, the Agency elected to release an interim decision setting the Index for the 2007-08 crop year, followed by a final decision which retroactively set the Index for that crop year following consultation. CN and CP objected to the proposed procedure and later appealed. Three other decisions followed, sparking four other appeals by CN or CP. After wide consultation, the Agency retroactively set the Index at 1.0639 for the entire 2007-08 crop year, replacing the Index set earlier. The railways appealed this decision. Another appeal followed. All the decisions were stayed pending disposition of the appeals. The Federal Court of Appeal dismissed all appeals.