INVITING JUDICIAL REVIEW: A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF CANADIAN APPELLATE COURT REFERENCE CASES Kate Puddister Department of Political Science McGill University, Montreal December 2015 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Kate Puddister, 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 Research Puzzle and Central Argument in Brief .....................................................................3 Case Selection ..........................................................................................................................5 Chapter Overview and Summary of Findings ..........................................................................7 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .............. 14 Legal Parameters of the Reference Power ............................................................................15 Review of Extant Literature on Canadian Reference Cases ..................................................19 Constitutional Courts and Comparative Abstract Review .....................................................27 THEORETICAL QUESTIONS .........................................................................................................33 The Separation of Powers, and Judicial Independence .........................................................34 Delegation to the Courts and Strategic Litigation .................................................................43 CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................................57 CHAPTER THREE: CANADIAN REFERENCE CASES 1875 TO 2014, A BIMODAL DISTRIBUTION ....................................................................................................................................... 61 THE CREATION OF THE REFERENCE POWER ..............................................................................62 DATA COLLECTION AND METHODOLOGY..................................................................................67 ANALYTICAL DESCRIPTION OF CANADIAN REFERENCE CASES ................................................70 Reference Case High Point I: 1930s ......................................................................................77 Reference Case High Point II: 1980s ....................................................................................89 1930s and 1980s Compared: References Become a Tool of the Provinces .........................100 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................103 CHAPTER FOUR: CANADIAN REFERENCE CASES POST-1949, ROUTINE POLITICS AND NON-ROUTINE LITIGATION ............................................................................................................ 106 OVERVIEW OF REFERENCE CASES POST-1949 .........................................................................109 COURTS ....................................................................................................................................112 Case Dispositions ................................................................................................................113 Unanimity Rate and Authorship ..........................................................................................114 TYPE OF JUDICIAL REVIEW ......................................................................................................117 Concrete Review Reference Cases .......................................................................................119 Abstract Review Reference Cases ........................................................................................121 REFUSING TO ANSWER .............................................................................................................124 Refusals of Practicality ........................................................................................................127 Lack of Information .............................................................................................................128 Appropriateness and Political Refusals ...............................................................................130 PARTIES IN REFERENCE CASES 1949 TO 2014 ..........................................................................133 Governments ........................................................................................................................134 Third-Party Interveners .......................................................................................................137 CONCLUSION: CONTEXTUALIZATION OF REFERENCE CASES ..................................................141 CHAPTER FIVE: WHY GOVERNMENTS USE THE REFERENCE POWER .............................. 147 WHY DO GOVERNMENTS ASK REFERENCE QUESTIONS? ........................................................150 Politics, Controversy, and Hot Potatoes..............................................................................153 Federalism ...........................................................................................................................158 Institutional Authority and Protection of the Courts ...........................................................161 Time and Resource: Pausing the Debate .............................................................................167 Abstract Review and the Structure of the Reference Power ................................................171 On the Reference Power in General ....................................................................................174 i WHY NOT REFERENCE: THE DOG THAT DIDN’T BARK ...........................................................179 The Padlock Act ...................................................................................................................187 Blasphemy ............................................................................................................................199 ANALYSIS: REFERENCE CASES AS DELEGATION .....................................................................204 CHAPTER SIX: IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION ................................................................... 214 IMPLICATION I: REFERENCES AS CONFOUNDING JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE ...........................215 IMPLICATION II: REFERENCES AS CONTRIBUTING TO THE CENTRALIZATION OF POWER .......222 OVERVIEW OF FINDINGS AND CONTRIBUTIONS .......................................................................229 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH....................................................................................235 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS .........................................................................................................236 APPENDIX A: CANADIAN REFERENCE QUESTION LEGISLATION ....................................... 238 APPENDIX B: CASE LIST .................................................................................................................... 240 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................... 245 STATUTES .................................................................................................................................254 CASES CITED (NON-REFERENCES) ............................................................................................255 ii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 – Reference Cases Final Court 1875 to 2014. _________________________ 70 Figure 2 – Government Initiating Case ______________________________________ 71 Figure 3 – Federal and Provincial Use of References ___________________________ 72 Figure 4 – Canadian Reference Cases Across Time ___________________________ 76 Figure 5 – Reference Cases Post-1949 _____________________________________ 109 Figure 6 – Rate of Participation of Government and Non-Government Interveners __ 140 Figure 7 – Comparison of European Constitutional Courts and Canada ___________ 225 LIST OF TABLES Table 1– Government Initiating Reference and Statue/Action Referred .......................... 74 Table 2 – Issues of Reference cases in the 1930s ............................................................. 79 Table 3 – Issues of Reference Cases in the 1980s ............................................................ 93 Table 4 – Case Type 1949 to 2014 ................................................................................. 110 Table 5 – Case Type 1982 to 2014 ................................................................................. 112 Table 6 – Disposition of Reference Cases ...................................................................... 113 Table 7 – Category of Judicial Review by Question Type ............................................. 118 Table 8 – Reasons for Refusing to Answer .................................................................... 127 Table 9 – Most Reference Initiating Governments (four or more cases) ....................... 135 Table 10 – Cases with the Highest Number of Third Party Interveners ......................... 139 iii ABSTRACT/RÉSUMÉ Canadian reference questions allow the executive (both federal and provincial) to obtain an advisory judicial opinion from a provincial appellate court or the Supreme Court of Canada on the constitutionality of government legislation, either proposed