Federalism and National Infrastructure

• Author: Mahmud Jamal
• Pages: 147-162



Federalismand

NationalInfrastructure

Mahmud Jamal*

A. INTRODUCTION

IfoneweretoevaluatetheSupremeCourtofCan adasapproachtofed

eralism andnationa lin frastructure based simplyon the results oft he

casesdecidedinthelastdecadeonemightbeforgivenforthinkingthat

thishasbe enasleepyperiodforthed ivisionofpowersWithinthelast

fewyearstheCourthasconrmedseveraltimehonouredpropositions

TheCourthas

• ar med Parliamentsexclusive jurisdiction over aeronautics under

thepeace orderandgood government powerwhichhasbeenset

tledlawsince

• reiteratedth atthedaytodayregulationofthesec uritiesmarketfall s

underexclusiveprovincialjurisdict ionoverpropertyandcivilrights

undersec tionof the ConstitutionAct a proposition rst

articulatedbythePrivyCou ncilin

 OslerHoskinHarcour tLLP

 QuebecAorneyGe neralvLacombeSCRLacombeQuebecAorney

General) v Canadian Owne rs and Pilots AssociationSCRCO PAIrepre

sentedtheinter venerGreaterTorontoAirportsAuthorit yintheseappeal s

 Johannesson v Rural Municipality of West St PaulSCRJohannesson

 Reference re Securities Ac tSCRIrepresentedtheinter venerCanadian

BankersAssoc iationinthisr eference

 Lymburn v Mayland ACPC

MJ

• recognizedthatParliamentcandestroydatacollectedunderafederal

g un c o nt r o l sc h e m ew i t h ou t r s t o e r i n gt h e da t a to a p ro v i n ce  t h er e b y

armingthatwhatParliamentcancreateitcana lsoeliminate and

• conr medthat a municipality cannot preventa cellphonecompany

fromconst ructing aradiocommun icationantenn asystem ata place

auth ori zedb ythe fede ralm in ist erofi ndus tr yther ebyc onti nui nga n

unbrokenlineofauthoritystretch ingbackoveracentury

Whileat rstblusheachof thesedecisions preservedthe statusquo

anteacloserexaminationrevealsgreatuxintheCourtsjurisprudence

This paper reviews recent decisions involving aeronautics securit ies

regulationdatacollectionandtelecommunicationsAswillbeseenthe

Courtsapproachtointerjurisd ictionalimmun itycontinuestoevolve

anevolution thatha slegaland practica lsignicancea ndthata ectsnot

onlyt heinterplay of thepowers in sections a nd oft heConstitu-

tionAct butalso the scopefor a unilateral federalin frastructure

policyThepopular metaphorofcooperativefederalismalsocontinues

toevolvef roma mere descriptive conceptto a legala ndinterpre tive

principle toa n unwrien constitutional pri nciplebut not one which

fornow constrai nsthe exerciseof federallegislativecompetence

The Courta lsoc ontinuesto debate the roleof evidence in divisionof

powersa nalysis both in interjur isdictional immun ity and virescases

withi mplicationsfor legalcerta intythe Courtsadjudicativerole and

thedeference giventolegislative policydecisions madeonthe basisof

expertevidence

B. THE SUPREME COURT’S RECENT

JURISPRUDENCE ON FEDERALISM AND

NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE

 Lacombe and C OPAAUnifiedSystemof

Aeronautical Navigation and Aviation Regulation

Within the past decade the Court reviewed what may have seemed

thelongseledquestion ofParliamentsexclusiveauthoritytoregulate

 QuebecAorneyGe neralvCanadaAorneyGene ralSCRQuebec (AG) v

Canada (AG)

 Rogers Communications Inc v Châteauguay (City)SCRRogers

 Toronto Corporation v Bell Telephone Co of CanadaACPCBellseealsoIn

re Regulation and Control of Radio C ommunication in CanadaACPCRadio

Communication in Canada