Klassen v. Winkler (Town), (2000) 144 Man.R.(2d) 85 (QB)

• Judge: Clearwater, J.
• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba (Canada)
• Case Date: January 25, 2000
• Jurisdiction: Manitoba
• Citations: (2000), 144 Man.R.(2d) 85 (QB)

Klassen v. Winkler (2000), 144 Man.R.(2d) 85 (QB)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2000] Man.R.(2d) TBEd. FE.037

Wayne Klassen (plaintiff) v. Town of Winkler (defendant)

(CI 98-11-00032)

Indexed As: Klassen v. Winkler (Town)

Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench

Morden Centre

Clearwater, J.

January 25, 2000.

Summary:

The plaintiff, a police constable with the defendant town for approximately 20 years, was dismissed. He sought a declaration that the dismissal was wrongful and damages for wrongful dismissal. The defendant applied to strike the plaintiff's claim as disclosing no reasonable cause of action (rule 25.11(d)).

The Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench dismissed the application.

Civil Rights - Topic 5678.2

Equality and protection of the law - Par­ticular cases - Police discipline or dismissal - The plaintiff, a police con­stable with the de­fendant town for approx­imately 20 years, was dismissed - He sought wrongful dis­missal damages - The defendant sought to strike the plaintiff's claim (rule 25.11(d)) - Particu­larly, police officers were public officers exercising their powers and duties pursuant to statu­tory authority - They were not employees of a municipality and there­fore there was no master and servant rela­tion­ship - As such, the plaintiff's only rem­edies were pre­scribed in the Police Act - The plaintiff argued that the procedures established in the Act were permissive only - Nonethe­less, even if the defendant's posi­tion was correct, with the implementa­tion of the Charter, it was time to revisit the concept -Particularly, applying the common law this was discriminated against all police officers who were not parties to a collec­tive agree­ment, contrary to s. 15 - The Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench rejected the Charter argument - "[E]mployment status" did not constitute a personal char­acteristic such as those con­templated in s. 15 - See paragraphs 1 to 12 and 16 to 24.

Civil Rights - Topic 8672

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - Equality rights (s. 15) - Analogous categories - [See Civil Rights - Topic 5678.2 ].

Master and Servant - Topic 7606

Dismissal of employees - Defences - Statutory authority - [See first Police - Topic 4105.1 ].

Municipal Law - Topic 1123

Employees - Dismissal - Dismissal at pleasure - [See first Police - Topic 4105.1 ].

Municipal Law - Topic 1126

Employees - Dismissal - Damages for wrongful dismissal - Bars - [See first Police - Topic 4105.1 ].

Police - Topic 4006

Internal organization - Status or relation of police officer - [See first Police - Topic 4105.1 ].

Police - Topic 4105.1

Internal organization - Dismissal of members - Wrongful dismissal - The plain­tiff, a police constable with the de­fendant town for approximately 20 years, was dismissed - He sought wrongful dismissal damages - The defendant sought to strike the plaintiff's claim (rule 25.11(d)) - Par­ticularly, police officers were public officers exercising their powers and duties pursuant to statutory authority - They were not employees of a municipality and there­fore there was no master and servant rela­tionship - As such, the plaintiff's only remedies were pre­scribed in the Police Act - The plaintiff asserted that the procedures established in the Act were permissive only - The Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench declined to dismiss the claim where it could not conclude that the plaintiff had no possibil­ity of success - Recent case law and the Act both "made it clear (and in my view made it a term of the relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant) that a police constable, such as the plain­tiff, may be discharged for cause. Implicit in this section of the provincial statute is the recognition that a constable may not be discharged summarily." - See paragraphs 1 to 24.

Police - Topic 4105.1

Internal organization - Dismissal of mem­bers - Wrongful dismissal - [See Civil Rights - Topic 5678.2 ].

Practice - Topic 2230

Pleadings - Striking out pleadings - Grounds - Failure to disclose a cause of action or defence - [See first Police - Topic 4105.1 ].

Cases Noticed:

Dumont et al. v. Canada (Attorney Gen­eral) and Manitoba (Attorney General), [1990] 1 S.C.R. 279; 105 N.R. 228; 65 Man.R.(2d) 182; [1990] 4 W.W.R. 127, refd to. [para. 4].

Reference Re Power of Municipal Council to Dismiss Police Officer Without a Hearing (1957), 7 D.L.R.(2d) 222 (Ont. C.A.), refd to. [para. 10].

Cowan v. Orangeville, [1959] O.W.N. 219 (H.C.), refd to. [para. 11].

St. Catharines Police Association v. Board of Commissioners of Police of St. Catharines (1970), 15 D.L.R.(3d) 532 (Ont. H.C.), refd to. [para. 11].

Clark v. Canada (1994), 76 F.T.R. 241; 3 C.C.E.L.(2d) 172 (T.D.), refd to. [para. 11].

Roy v. B.N.P.P. Regional Police Commis­sion (1986), 72 N.B.R.(2d) 19; 183 A.P.R. 19; 15 C.C.E.L. 167 (T.D.), refd to. [para. 13].

Makila v. Sault Ste. Marie (City) Com­missioners of Police (1995), 8 C.C.E.L.(2d) 134 (Ont. Gen. Div.), refd to. [para. 13].

Nicholson v. Halimand-Norfolk Regional Board of Commissioners of Police and Ontario (Attorney General), [1979] 1 S.C.R. 311; 23 N.R. 410; 88 D.L.R.(3d) 671; 78 C.L.L.C. 14,181, refd to. [para. 13].

Chadee v. Norway House First Nation et al. (1996), 113 Man.R.(2d) 110; 131 W.A.C. 110 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 14].

Leyte v. Newfoundland (Minister of Social Services) (1997), 159 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 163; 492 A.P.R. 163; 154 D.L.R.(4th) 739 (Nfld. T.D.), refd to. [para. 17].

Hill v. Church of Scientology of Toronto and Manning, [1995] 2 S.C.R. 1130; 184 N.R. 1; 84 O.A.C. 1; 126 D.L.R.(4th) 129, refd to. [para. 20].

Law v. Minister of Employment and Im­migration (1999), 236 N.R. 1; 170 D.L.R.(4th) 1 (S.C.C.), refd to. [para. 22].

Niemann v. Public Service Commission (Can.) (1989), 29 F.T.R. 156 (T.D.), refd to. [para. 23].

Reference Re Sections 32 and 34 of the Workers' Compensation Act (Nfld.), [1989] 1 S.C.R. 922; 96 N.R. 227; 76 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 181; 235 A.P.R. 181; 56 D.L.R.(4th) 765; 40 C.R.R. 135, refd to. [para. 23].

Delisle v. Canada (Attorney General) et al. (1997), 144 D.L.R.(4th) 301 (Que. C.A.), refd to. [para. 23].

Statutes Noticed:

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982, sect. 15 [para. 16].

Provincial Police Act, R.S.M. 1987, c. P-150; C.C.S.M., c. P-150, sect. 7 [para. 12.

Authors and Works Noticed:

Halsbury's Laws of England (4th Ed.) vol. 8, generally [para. 14].

Harris, David, Wrongful Dismissal (1998), vol. 1, pp. 2-63 [para. 5]; 2-110 [para. 14].

Counsel:

Shauna McCarthy, for the plaintiff;

David J. Kroft and Trevor Brown (stu­dent-at-law), for the defendant.

This application was heard before Clear­water, J., of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench, Morden Centre, who delivered the following judgment on January 25, 2000.