View cases - Stewart McKelvey

Page: 62[236] Air Canada’s expert was Dr. H. Lorne Carmichael, a Professor of Economics at Queen'sUniversity. Dr. Carmichael holds a PhD in Economics from Stanford University, and chairs theundergraduate studies program at Queen’s. Dr. Carmichael has written extensively on labour marketinstitutions, and has also edited several leading economics journals.[237] The Commission’s expert was Dr. Jonathan Kesselman. Dr. Kesselman is a professor in thePublic Policy Program at Simon Fraser University, and holds a Canada Research Chair in PublicFinance. He has worked and published in the field for many years, and has also edited several2011 FC 120 (CanLII)leading journals in the field of public policy and taxation.[238] In order to put the evidence of the experts into context, it is helpful to start by recalling someof the key findings in the majority decision in McKinney with respect to the issue of minimalimpairment.[239] Justice La Forest observed that by 1990, roughly 50% of the Canadian work force heldpositions that were subject to mandatory retirement, and that approximately two-thirds of collectiveagreements provided for mandatory retirement at the age of 65: at para. 83. Sixty-five had becomethe “normal” age of retirement in Canada, and had become “part of the very fabric of theorganization of the labour market in this country”: at para. 84. Mandatory retirement had profoundimplications for the structuring of pension plans, for fairness and security of tenure in theworkplace, and for work opportunities for others.