View cases - Stewart McKelvey

The following are the reasons delivered byABELLA J. —[321] I fully endorse the Chief Justice and LeBel J.’s discussion of Health Services andSupport — Facilities Subsector Bargaining Assn. v. British Columbia, 2007 SCC 27, [2007] 22011 SCC 20 (CanLII)S.C.R. 391. I agree with them that by including protection for the process of collectivebargaining, Health Services enhanced the scope of 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights andFreedoms beyond the formalism assigned to it by this Court’s 1987 Labour Trilogy (Referencere Public Service Employee Relations Act (Alta.), [1987] 1 S.C.R. 313; PSAC v. Canada, [1987]1 S.C.R. 424; and RWDSU v. Saskatchewan, [1987] 1 S.C.R. 460). I am also in agreement withtheir criticisms of Rothstein J.’s decision to reconsider the correctness of Health Services on hisown motion, in the absence of a request from any of the parties that he do so, and without anopportunity for them to address the issue.[322] With the greatest respect, however, I do not agree that the Agricultural EmployeesProtection Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 16 (“AEPA”) meets the new Health Services standard. I havegreat difficulty with stretching the interpretive process in a way that converts clear statutorylanguage and express legislative intention into a completely different scheme. The AEPA doesnot protect, and was never intended to protect, collective bargaining rights.Background