Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Canada (Attorney-General) v. Thouin, 2017 SCC 46

  • October 23, 2017

The Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Canada (Attorney-General) v. Thouin, 2017 SCC 46 on September 28, 2017.

In brief, the Court held 7-0 that the Competition Bureau’s lead investigator enjoyed Crown immunity, and did not have to submit to a third-party examination for discovery as part of the ongoing class proceedings in the retail gasoline case in Quebec. The Court distinguished its prior ruling in Imperial Oil v. Jacques, 2014 SCC 66, which had authorized the disclosure of certain communications that had been intercepted by the Bureau in a separate set of class proceedings, on the basis that that the Court did not address the Crown immunity arising under the Crown Liability and Proceedings Act in Jacques, but in any event, there are certain circumstances where the immunity may be lifted depending on the nature of the request, the applicable provincial discovery rules and other circumstances.

The decision is found here