Case information

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Charter of Rights - Freedom of expression - Civil procedure - Appeals - Discontinuance of proceedings - Interlocutory judgments - Whether the Appellant should have been denied its right to discontinue its motion in revocation.

The Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities serves as the backdrop to this appeal. In 2005, the Attorney General of Canada instituted claims in the amount of 63 million dollars against various defendants, including the Respondent Le Groupe Polygone Éditeurs (“Polygone”), seeking the resolution of certain contracts as well as the reimbursement of sums paid pursuant to those contracts. In its defence, Polygone sought to prove that the federal government had knowledge of the affair prior to 2002, and that as a result, the government’s claims were prescribed. At Polygone’s request, the Superior Court ordered that 22 individuals, mostly current and former government employees, state in writing and under oath, whether they had given any information to the Globe and Mail’s reporter on the issue. The Globe and Mail filed a motion in revocation of judgment to have that order set aside. At the hearing before the Superior Court on the motion in revocation, the Globe and Mail objected to certain questions directed at its journalist. The Superior Court dismissed the objections. The Court of Appeal refused to grant leave to appeal on the issue. Rather than have its journalist answer the questions posed by Polygone in the motion in revocation proceedings, the Globe and Mail opted to discontinue those proceedings. The Superior Court refused to allow the discontinuance. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.