Case information

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Quebec Charter - Freedom of expression - Civil procedure - Publication bans - Order to safeguard - Appeals - Whether the Superior Court judge was right, in the circumstances of this case, to enjoin the publication of lawfully acquired, truthful information on a matter of public interest.

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 Polygone, seeking the resolution of certain contracts as well as the reimbursement of sums paid pursuant to those contracts. In its defence, Polygone seeks to prove that the federal government had knowledge of the affair prior to 2002, and that as a result, the government’s claims are 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. It argued, among other things, that the order violated its right to freedom of expression, particularly its right to protect its confidential sources. At the hearing on the motion in revocation, the Superior Court issued an order prohibiting the journalist, Daniel Leblanc, employed by the Globe and Mail, from writing reports about the state of confidential settlement negotiations between the Attorney General of Canada and the defendants in the principal civil recovery action. The Globe and Mail’s appeal from that order was dismissed.