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 – Boards and tribunals – Jurisdiction – Relevant date for which the Board’s jurisdiction should be determined – Test for federal undertaking – Single employer declaration – Was the Board correct that it had no jurisdiction because of events arising during litigation but after the facts giving rise to the application – Is the purpose of section 35 of the Code limited to addressing harm from the transfer of work from a unionized company to a non-union company for anti-union reasons or to avoid collective bargaining obligations, or was s. 35 enacted to address a broader set of labour relations concerns – Was the Board correct in its application of the “single enterprise” test for constitutional jurisdiction – Did the Board err by adopting a formalistic approach to determining functional integration and in focusing on the issue of employer intent – Canada Labour Code, R.S.C., 1985, c. L-2 (“Code”), ss. 35 and 44.

Pacific Coach Lines Ltd. (“PCL”) is a privately owned company whose workers are unionized. Its primary business is operating regularly scheduled bus services and charter services within British Columbia, but it also provided extra-provincial services. PCL acquired Cantrail Coach Lines Ltd. (“Cantrail”), an independent corporation with non unionized workers. Cantrail continues to operate as a separate entity, with its own buses, employees, corporate branding, and intra and extra-provincial activities.

The applicant brought an application for a declaration of single employer and a declaration of sale of business pursuant to ss. 35 and 44 of the Code. The Canada Industrial Relations Board (the “Board”) issued an interim decision that both PCL and Cantrail were subject to federal jurisdiction for labour purposes. In January 2011, PCL ceased offering extra-provincial services. The issue became whether the Board had jurisdiction to consider the application, where one of the two employers was allegedly no longer a federal undertaking. The Union filed an unfair labour practise complaint, which was consolidated with the earlier application. The Board concluded that PCL and Cantrail were not a single federal work or undertaking and that PCL was not integral to Cantrail’s operations. The Board held that it had no jurisdiction to entertain the application and that the unfair labour practice was moot. The Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the application for judicial review.