LABOUR RELATIONS |
Canada (Attorney General) v. Public Service Alliance of Canada
T-1732-99
Heneghan J.
7/12/00
9 pp.
Application for judicial review of Regional Safety Officer's (RSO) decision pursuant to Canada Labour Code to vary direction of safety officer appointed under Code (when investigating fire at federally owned building in Saint John, New Brunswick, safety officer noticed independent contractor's workers carrying out exterior wall cladding on building not using regulatory fall protection equipment and directed Public Works to terminate contravention)--Issue manner in which RSO interpreted words "every person" in Code, s. 125(v) to apply to employees of independent contractor--Applicant claiming RSO's interpretation had effect of imposing federal regulatory power over persons regulated by provincial occupational and safety health legislation--Issues whether RSO committed error of law and rendered patently unreasonable decision in varying but not rescinding safety officer's decision; whether RSO exceeded jurisdiction by extending application of Code to include "workers of all jurisdictions"--Application dismissed--Standard of review for question of law "somewhere between reasonableness and correctness": Federal Marine Terminals Ltd., Division of Fednav Ltd. v. Longshoremen's Union, Local 375, [2000] F.C.J. 592 (T.D.) (QL), para. 52--RSO did not commit any error of law in his interpretation of Code, s. 125(v)--Not extending federal jurisdiction over non-federal employees--Simply interpreting Code, s. 125(v) in relation to responsibility of employer for workplace under its control--RSO equating contractor's employees with members of public--Federal employer, as occupier of building, owing general common law duty of care to members of public for safety of premises, including exterior of premises--Canada Labour Code, R.S.C., 1985, c. L-2, s. 125(v) (as enacted by R.S.C., 1985 (1st Supp.), c. 9, s. 4).