A. Introduction

• Author: Patrick J. Monahan - Byron Shaw
• Pages: 286-286

Page 286

As discussed in Chapter 7, the decision of the Privy Council in Citizens’ Insurance Co. v. Parsons¹is the starting point for the federal trade and commerce power under section 91(2) of the Constitution Act, 1867.²In Parsons, the Privy Council held that there were two branches of the trade and commerce power: (1) the regulation of interprovincial and international trade; and (2) "general regulation of trade affecting the whole dominion." In neither of these categories, however, could the federal power over trade and commerce extend to the regulation of the contracts of a particular trade or business within a province.

As previously discussed, the Privy Council severely restricted the scope of the second branch of the trade and commerce power. Early cases held that the trade and commerce power was effectively limited to the regulation of goods, persons, or activities crossing provincial borders. This chapter examines the extent to which the Supreme Court has departed from the Privy Council’s restrictive approach and broadened the ambit of the trade and commerce power, particularly in relation to the...