C. Interpretation of the Bank Act

• Author: M.H. Ogilvie
• Profession: LSM, B.A., LL.B., M.A., D.Phil., D.D., F.R.S.C. Of the Bars of Ontario and Nova Scotia Chancellor's Professor and Professor of Law, Carleton University
• Pages: 26-27

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The Bank Act is subject to the ordinary rules of statutory interpretation,¹¹including the federal Interpretation Act¹²but not provincial Interpretation Acts. The Act is to be applied uniformly across the country, including in Quebec.¹³

Most interpretation cases have arisen in the context of constitutional division-of-power litigation concerning the relationship of the security provisions of the Act and provincial legislation about secured transactions pursuant to section 92(13), and these

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cases show that the ordinary rules apply.¹⁴

Extensive nineteenth-century case law about the meaning of particular sections of special bank charters no longer appears to have application.¹⁵

In addition to the ordinary rules of statutory interpretation, the Act itself contains intrinsic aids to interpretation, including sections 2 to 12, which comprise a comprehensive definition code for the entire Act, as well as various definitions and provisions scattered throughout the Act of particular application in the context in which they are found in the Act.¹⁶

Since those provisions of the Act relating to the corporate governance of banks are modelled on equivalent provisions in the Canada Business Corporations Act,¹⁷it may be asserted that judicial interpretation of those provisions in the context of the CBCA would apply equally to the Bank Act.¹⁸

Finally, the numerous government policy papers of the past quarter-century¹⁹discussing banking policy in Canada may also be used by the courts to discern the meaning and scope of the Act.²⁰

[11] See any standard legal textbook on statutory interpretation.

[12] R.S.C. 1985, c. I-21 as am.

[13] Exchange Bank v. Fletcher (1891), 19 S.C.R. 278 at 288-89, Patterson J.

[14] Rogerson Lumber Co. v. Four Seasons Chalet Ltd. (1980), 113 D.L.R. (3d) 671 at 677 (Ont. C.A.), Arnup J.A.

[15] For a complete list, see M.H. Ogilvie, Canadian Banking Law, 2d ed. (Toronto: Carswell, 1998) at 27, note 31.

[16] These are typically found in the various parts of the Act and will be referred to where appropriate in this text.

[17] R.S.C. 1985, c. C-44 as am. [CBCA].

[18] Canada, Department of Finance, White Paper on the Revision of Canadian Banking Legislation (Ottawa: Department of Finance, 1976) at 41.

[19] See Section D, below in this chapter.

[20] Canadian Western Bank v. Alberta (2003), 4 C.C.L.I. (4th) 59 at 91-104 (Alta. Q.B.), Slatter J. [Canadian Western Bank].