The National Class under the Class Proceedings Act, 1992: Unsettled Issues

• Author: Patricia D.S. Jackson
• Pages: 471-479

The

National Class

under

the

Class proceedings have become

a

well-established

feature

of the

Cana-

dian legal landscape.

The

resulting pursuit

of

statutory

and

common

law

remedies

by

mass classes

of

plaintiffs

is

reconfiguring

the

ways

in

which corporations

and

their directors

and

managers interact with

investors,

shareholders, creditors, customers,

policy

holders,

and

clients.

Clearly,

class proceedings have significant implications

for the

develop-

ment

of

corporate

and

commercial law.

In

Ontario,

for the

better part

of a

decade,

class

proceedings

have

routinely been launched

on

behalf

of a

class whose membership com-

prises Canadians generally,

the

so-called "national class."

So

common-

place

has the

national class become that comment

on the

scope

of

such

a

class

is

increasingly rare

in

certification

decisions. However, this

almost omnipresent

feature

of

Ontario class proceedings

has

received

no

appellate scrutiny.

My

remarks today

are in

effect

a

plea

for

such

scrutiny. Without

it,

at

least

two

important issues remain:

To

what extent

and in

what circumstances will

the

courts

of

other

Canadian

jurisdictions

recognize

the

Ontario courts' exercise

of

juris-

diction over

a

national class? And, what

are the

consequences

for

par-

ties

to

such national class proceedings

if

that jurisdiction

is not

recognized elsewhere?

Of

Torys LLP.

471

Patricia D.S.

Jackson

Class Proceedings

Act,

1992:

Unsettled Issues