Canada (Procureur général) v. Pelletier, 2007 CAF 6 (2007)

Date: 20070111

Docket: A-620-05

Citation: 2007 FCA 6

CORAM: DÉCARY J.A.

NADON J.A.

PELLETIER J.A.

BETWEEN:

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA

Appellant

and

JEAN PELLETIER

Respondent

Heard at Ottawa, Ontario , on December 19, 2006.

Judgment delivered at Ottawa, Ontario , on January 11, 2007.

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT BY: PELLETIER J.A.

CONCURRED IN BY: DÉCARY J.A.

NADON J.A.

Date: 20070111

Docket: A-620-05

Citation: 2007 FCA 6

CORAM: DÉCARY J.A.

NADON J.A.

PELLETIER J.A.

BETWEEN:

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA

Appellant

and

JEAN PELLETIER

Respondent

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

PELLETIER J.A.

INTRODUCTION

[1] On July 31, 2001, in the exercise of its power to appoint its candidates directly to high office, the government of the day appointed Jean Pelletier to the office of Chairman of the Board of Directors of VIA Rail Canada Inc., to serve at pleasure , (“à titre amovible”). On March 1, 2004, the government of the day, differently constituted, in the exercise of its right to remove him from office, terminated Mr. Pelletier’s appointment.

[2] Mr. Pelletier challenged the government’s termination of his appointment in Federal Court, where he met with success. The Attorney General conceded before Mr. Justice Simon Noël, the application judge, that Mr. Pelletier was owed duty of procedural fairness but contended that this duty was minimal and that it had been satisfied. In a decision reported at 2005 FC 1545, the application judge found that Mr. Pelletier was owed a more robust duty of procedural fairness than proposed by the Attorney General, and that this duty had not been satisfied. The Attorney General now appeals from that decision.

[3] The issue in the appeal is therefore very circumscribed. It is not whether Mr. Pelletier was owed a...

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