Date: 20010108
Docket: A-665-99
Montréal, Quebec, Monday, January 8, 2001
CORAM: DESJARDINS, J.A.
DÉCARY, J.A.
NOËL, J.A.
BETWEEN:
DEKALB CANADA INC.
Appellant
AND:
AGRICULTURE AND AGRI-FOOD CANADA
Respondent
JUDGMENT
This appeal is dismissed with costs.
"Alice Desjardins"
J.A.
Certified true translation
Suzanne M. Gauthier, LL.L., Trad. a.
Date: 20010108
Docket: A-665-99
Coram: DESJARDINS, J.A.
DÉCARY, J.A.
NOËL, J.A.
Between:
DEKALB CANADA INC.
Appellant
AND:
AGRICULTURE AND AGRI-FOOD CANADA
Respondent
Hearing held in Montréal, Quebec, Monday, January 8, 2001
Judgment pronounced at the hearing in Montréal, Quebec, Monday, January 8, 2001
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT OF THE COURT BY: DESJARDINS J.A.
Date: 20010108
Docket: A-665-99
Coram: DESJARDINS, J.A.
DÉCARY, J.A.
NOËL, J.A.
Between:
DEKALB CANADA INC.
Appellant
AND:
AGRICULTURE AND AGRI-FOOD CANADA
Respondent
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
(Pronounced at the hearing in Montréal, Quebec
Monday, January 8, 2001)
DESJARDINS J.A.:
[1] This is an appeal from a decision rendered by Dubé J., reported as Dekalb Canada Inc. v. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (1999), 175 F.T.R. 294; (1999), 2 C.P.R. (4th) 345; [1999] F.C.J. 1690.
[2] Notwithstanding the able submissions of the appellant, we have not been persuaded that the motions judge erred in any way in his interpretation of subsection 20(2) of the Access to Information Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. A-1 (the "Act"), particularly in regard to the "results of product or environmental testing carried out by or on behalf of a government institution" ("résultats d'essais de produits ou d'essais d'environnement effectués par une institution fédérale ou pour son compte"). Subsection 20(2) reads as follows:
| (2) The head of a government institution shall not, pursuant to subsection (1), refuse to disclose a part of a record if that part contains the results of product or environmental testing carried out by or on behalf of a government institution unless the testing was done as a service to a person, a group of persons or an organization other than a government institution and for a fee. (Emphasis added) |
(2) Le paragraphe (1) n'autorise pas le responsable d'une institution fédérale à refuser la communication de la partie d'un document qui donne les résultats d'essais de produits ou d'essais d'environnement effectués par une institution fédérale ou pour son compte, sauf si les essais constituent une prestation de services fournis à titre onéreux mais non destinés à une institution fédérale. (Je souligne) |
|
[3] Paragraph 4(1)(b) of the Seeds Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. S-8, under the authority of which the appellant's seeds were examined, authorizes the enactment of regulations prescribing the procedures by which "seeds may be... tested". These testing procedures are spelled out in particular in the Seeds Regulations, C.R.C. 1978, vol. XV, c. 1400, at page 11289.
[4] The respondent availed itself of the authority thereby conferred on it to check the quality of the appellant's seeds. This, as we understand it, was the "results of product testing" prescribed by the Act.
[5] The appeal will therefore be dismissed with costs.
"Alice Desjardins"
J.A.
MONTRÉAL, QUEBEC
January 8, 2001
Certified true translation
Suzanne M. Gauthier, LL.L., Trad. a.
FEDERAL COURT OF APPEAL
Date: 20010108
Docket: A-665-99
Between:
DEKALB CANADA INC.
Appellant
AND:
AGRICULTURE AND AGRI-FOOD CANADA
Respondent
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
APPEAL DIVISION
NAMES OF COUNSEL AND SOLICITORS OF RECORD
FILE NO: A-665-99
STYLE:
DEKALB CANADA INC.
Appellant
AND:
AGRICULTURE AND AGRI-FOOD CANADA
Respondent
PLACE OF HEARING: Montréal, Quebec
DATE OF HEARING: January 8, 2001
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT OF THE COURT BY THE HONOURABLE MADAM JUSTICE DESJARDINS
DATED: January 8, 2001
APPEARANCES:
Serge Fournier for the appellant
Claude Morissette and Louis-Alexandre Guay for the respondent
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Brouillette Charpentier Fortin for the appellant
Montréal, Quebec
Morris Rosenberg for the respondent
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario