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Administrative law – Judicial review – Law of professions – Violation of code of ethics relating to commercial advertising – Whether Court of Appeal erred in refusing to interfere with judgments rendered by Professions Tribunal and Superior Court – Code of Ethics of the Ordre des denturologistes du Québec, CQLR, c. D 4, r. 6, ss. 5.10, 5.10.1 and 5.10.2.

The applicant is an assistant syndic of the Ordre des denturologistes du Québec (“ODQ”). On October 27, 2009, the syndic of the ODQ filed a disciplinary complaint containing nine charges against each of the respondents, who were members of the ODQ, with regard to advertisements run by Centres dentaires Lapointe (“CDL”) between 2007 and 2009. Each complaint contained nine charges under the Code of Ethics of the ODQ and the Professional Code. On January 19, 2011, the ODQ’s disciplinary council convicted the respondents of six of the nine charges. On November 9, 2011, it rendered its decision on the penalty. The respondents appealed the decision on the conviction and the decision on the penalty to the Professions Tribunal. The applicant contested the decision on the penalty. On March 14, 2014, the Professions Tribunal allowed the appeal, acquitted the respondents and dismissed the applicant’s appeal. It found, inter alia, that the disciplinary council had erred in assessing the evidence by relying on an expert opinion that encroached on its jurisdiction and that it had also made a palpable and overriding error in applying the law to the facts with respect to the respondents’ guilt. On April 24, 2014, the applicant applied for judicial review of the Professions Tribunal’s decision.