The grant of authority Flashcards
What is delegating
Assgning power from parliament to the executive
What are the branches of government
Parliament
The executive
The jduciary
All have some sort of impact on eachother
Why does delegation exist?
Becaise the legal system is so complex and theres so much to do
The world requires an adaptive mechanism and the leg is too slow.
Executive allows for government to adapt to the changing views of society and allows for efficiency
Legislative intent as the polar star
Vavilov
Parlioamentary sovereignty represents the will of the ppl
The legislature can make/ unmake any law that it sees fit, provided that it’s within the limits of the Constitution.
They cna also limit judicial interference as long as they dont completley outst judical review
Who can authority be delegated to and who delegates this authority?
The cabinet
Ministers
Boards
Delegated by: parliament
What types of powers can be delegated?
duties
Discretion
Policy making
Judicial decision making
Subordinate legislation
Authority is delegated by the statute
Shows the mandates/limits boundaries
Statute has to make it mandatory by saying shall instead of may.
What is sub delegation
When parliament authorises power to someone/a body, u cant just assign that power to someone else
However, the legisalte can expressly allow for sub delegaiton or imply it
How can sub-delegation be implied, state case
Bridge v the Queen
Facts: Concerned the City of Hamilton Act that set certain times for gas stations to be open.
Provided the city with the authority to issue permits to remain open outside of those set-out hours.
The city issued a bylaw that sub-delegated the issuance of the permits to the city clerk.
This bylaw specified the authority of the clerk, ie. Cap of permits etc.
Argued: The scheme is outside the boundaries of the act because the city has impermissibly subdelegated the power to the city clerk.
Held: Because the bylaw was specific enough about the boundaries that the city clerk could issue permits, it had complied with the requirements of the Act.
The city exercised the power conferred to it through a specific person.
Sub delegation within a ministerial office
Also known as the catriona principle
Provided for in s24(2) of the interpretation act
Minister has authority to subdelegate to officers
Whats a duty
Authorising the power to actually do something,ie. granting of licenses
Whats discretion
Granting the decision maker th power to exercise their judgement over a specific outcome
What does discretion allow for
Adaptability
Responsiveness
Flexibility
Is discretion absolute
state case
No its not
Roncarelli v Duplessi
No discretion to deny a permit based on reliious grounds, that was arbitraty and unreasonable and outside the authroised disretion
Can a past parliamtn bind a future parliament?
No
West lakes
If a parliament said that a statute was permane t, the next parliament could ccome and remove that statute
How does parliamentary soverenty extend to the courts
Legislation superseeds common law
s91-s92- no interdelegation of statutory powers
s96- federal governor general appoints all superior court judges.
The test to distinguish whether the authority is that of a s96 court of if its actually capable of being delegated
residential tenancies
Does the power “broadly conform” to a power exclusively exercised by a superior court at the time of Confederation?
Is the power a judicial power?
Is the power necessarily incidental or ancillary to a non-section 96 power?
what are the steps doing
Reference residential tenancies
Held: Steps 1 and 2 aim to identify potential violations of section 96.
Step 3 looks to see if the power exercised by the tribunal has been altered enough by its context to allow it to be constitutionally valid.
Go through the three steps
Reference re residential tenancies
Step 1
Step One:
Dispute Resolution Process:
The Director of Residential Tenancies has the power to handle disputes between landlords and tenants.
The Director can look into problems, help settle issues, and make decisions about things like ending leases, ordering repairs, or giving tenants back their homes.
Appeals:
If someone disagrees with the Director’s decision, they can ask for a new hearing before a Residential Tenancies Board, which can make the same kinds of decisions as the Director.
If they are still unhappy, they can ask the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal to review the case, but only on issues related to legal questions or whether the Director/Board had the authority to make a decision.
Exclusive Jurisdiction:
Only the Director and the Board are allowed to make decisions about landlord-tenant issues under this law. Regular courts cannot intervene, except for limited situations like formally recording orders or handling appeals.
Step Two
Does the tribunal do things that look like it’s exercising the powers of a court?
Must look at the nature of the dispute: The more the statutory delegate addresses broader social policy concerns in its decision-making, rather than considering the legal issues between parties, the less likely will it be considered to be exercising a judicial function.
Step 3
Step Three:
Statutory tribunals can exercise some powers within section 96 if those powers are exercised as a result of a legitimate administrative function.
MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. V. Simpson [1995] 4 SCR 725
Issue: Whether Youth Courts could try youths for contempt – including contempt of superior courts.
Held: Because this power was exercised in furtherance of the novel policy objective of youth justice, it was permissible for the inferior tribunal to exercise it.
What are privative clauses
State case
Clauses that prevent any sort of appeal
Crevier
Held: It is unquestioned that privative clauses, when properly framed, may effectively oust judicial review on questions of law and on other issues not touching jurisdiction.
A tribunal could not constitutionally be immunised from review of decisions on questions of jurisdiction.
To give a provincially-constituted statutory tribunal a jurisdiction in appeal on questions of law without limitation, and to reinforce this appellate authority by excluding any supervisory recourse to the Quebec Superior Court, was to create a s. 96 court.
Jurisdiction over consitutional questions
state case
R v Conway
If has power to decide q of law, has power to determine con questions
therefoe it has the power to grant con remedies