''Ontario (AG) v Canada Temperance Federation'' was a famous Canadian constitutional decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and was among the first cases to examine the peace, order, and good government power of the Constitution Act, 1867. It was the first decision to bring back the "national concerns" branch of peace, order and good government since it was first suggested in the Local Prohibitions case.

Background

In June 1939, the Ontario government posed the following reference question to the Court of Appeal of Ontario: In presenting its case, Ontario argued: #While the Act had been declared valid in '' Russell v. The Queen'', Viscount Haldane had commented in the later case of '' Toronto Electric Commissioners v. Snider'' that ''Russell'' could be supported now only on the ground that it was dealing with a matter that was "a menace to the national life of Canada" at that time (an emergency). #When the revised Act was enacted in 1927, having been originally enacted in 1878 and revised in 1886, there were no circumstances that enabled the Parliament of Canada to legislate anew.

Court of Appeal of Ontario

In September 1939, the majority of the Court of Appeal ( Riddell, Fisher, McTague and Gillanders JJA) gave the following answer: Ontario appealed the ruling to the Privy Council.

Privy Council

The ruling was upheld by the Board. As to the arguments raised by Ontario, #While the Board was not bound by its previous decisions, it noted that nowhere in the ''

British North America Act The British North America Acts 1867–1975 are a series of Acts of Parliament that were at the core of the constitution of Canada. Most were enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and some by the Parliament of Canada. In Canada, some ...

'' is it mentioned that the peace, order and good government power can be invoked only in cases of emergency. It also noted that ''Snider'' did not explicitly state that ''Russell'' was wrongly decided, and Haldane's explanation was "too narrowly expressed." In addition, ''Russell'' had become a significant foundation for subsequent jurisprudence not only at the Board but also in the House of Lords. #Once it was decided that the 1878 Act was valid, any subsequent Act replacing it through consolidating subsequent amending Acts must be equally valid.

Viscount Simon Viscount Simon, of Stackpole Elidor in the County of Pembroke, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 20 May 1940 for the Liberal politician Sir John Simon. He was Home Secretary from 1915 to 1916 and 1935 to 1937 ...

for the Council also suggested that the federal power relating to peace, order and good government could be invoked for matters of "national concern:" This became the foundation of the "national dimensions" test.

Impact

Many decisions to follow struggled to reconcile the case with that of ''Russell'' and seem to give contradictory interpretations of the nature of "peace, order and good government." Though not expressly stated by Simon, the decision effectively overturned ''Russell''. The "national concern" test was subsequently applied and elaborated on in ''

Johannesson v. West St. Paul ''Johannesson v West St Paul (Rural Municipality of)'' 9521 S.C.R. 297 is a leading Supreme Court of Canada decision on the federal jurisdiction over aeronautics. This was also the first Supreme Court case to analyze the peace, order, and good gover ...

'', '' Munro v. National Capital Commission'', and '' R. v. Crown Zellerbach''.

References

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External links