Overview

• Author: Suzanne Chiodo
• Pages: 1-14

Chapter

i

OVERVIEW

A.

INTRODUCTION

On

24

June

1982,

Attorney

General

Roy

McMurtry

announced

to

the

Ontario

legislature

1

that

the

Ontario

Law

Reform

Commission

had

com



pleted

its

Report

on

Class

Actions.

2

The

result

of

six

years

of

deliberation

and

running

to

nearly

900

pages,

the

OLRC

Report

was

widely

hailed

as

one

of

the

most

comprehensive

treatments

of

the

subject,

covering

almost

every

aspect

of

class

actions

in

exhaustive

detail.

It

was

accompanied

by

draft

legislation

and

had

been

especially

commissioned

by

the

attorney

general,

with

McMurtry

stating

the

following

year

that

he

regarded

class

action

reform

as

“

a

high

priority.

1

would

expect

to

be

discussing

these

issues

...

with

my

cabinet

colleagues

in

the

early

autumn,

with

a

view

to

possibly

bringing

first

reading

legislation

before

the

House

by

the

end

of

the

year.

”

3

1

Ontario,

Legislative

Assembly,

Official

Report

of

Debates

(Hansard),

32nd

Pari,

2nd

Sess

(24

June

1982)

(Roy

McMurtry),

online:

http://hansardindex.ontla.on.ca/

hansardeissue/32-2/lo87-htm.

2

Ontario

Law

Reform

Commission,

Report

on

Class

Actions

(Toronto:

Ministry

of

the

Attorney

General,

1982)

[OLRC

Report].

3

Ontario,

Legislative

Assembly,

Official

Report

of

Debates

(1

lansard),

32nd

Pari,

3rd

Sess

(17

June

1983)

(Standing

Committee

on

Administration

of

Justice,

Estimates,

Ministry

of

the

Attorney

General),

J-173,

Ontario

Law

Reform

Commission

files,

Nov

1976-Dec

1982,

Project

name:

class

actions,

RG

4-66,

BA77,

Box

No

B380537,

North

York,

Archives

of

Ontario.

1