Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Cites Supreme Court Decision
In his decision suspending the Alberta government’s Bill 9, the Public Sector Wage Arbitration Deferral Act, Justice Macklin cites the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Mounted Police Association of Ontario v Canada (Attorney General), [2015] 1 SCR 3, 2015 SCC 1).
Justice Macklin states, “The [Supreme] Court confirmed that protection for a meaningful process of collective bargaining requires that employees have the ability to pursue their goals and that, at its core, s. 2(d) aims… to protect individuals against more powerful entities. By banding together in the pursuit of common goals, individuals are able to prevent more powerful entities from thwarting their legitimate goals and desires. In this way, the guarantee of freedom of association empowers vulnerable groups and helps them work to right imbalances in society… [at para. 58][31 ] The ability of one party to unilaterally change the terms of a collective agreement also raises a serious issue about whether that balance of power protected by s. 2(d) has been infringed.”
Renewal Update will follow the court proceedings through the Court of Appeal and possibly to the Supreme Court keeping readers abreast of how the arguments are nuanced.
This article was published in:
Renewal Update No. 3, September 5, 2019
