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JR - SOR - Reasonableness Review - Justification - Statutory Interpretation. Auer v. Auer
In Auer v. Auer (SCC, 2024) the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed an appeal of a JR, here challenging the Federal Child Support Guidelines as ultra vires their Governor-in-Counsel-delegated Divorce Act authority.
The court considers JR 'reasonableness review', here on the constraining factor of 'statutory interpretation':(c) Principles of Statutory Interpretation
[64] Statutory delegates are empowered to interpret the scope of their authority when enacting subordinate legislation. Their interpretation must, however, be consistent with the text, context and purpose of the enabling statute (Vavilov, at paras. 120‑21; Keyes (2021), at p. 193). They must interpret the scope of their authority in accordance with the modern principle of statutory interpretation. The words of the enabling statute must be read “in their entire context and in their grammatical and ordinary sense harmoniously with the scheme of the Act, the object of the Act, and the intention of Parliament” (Rizzo & Rizzo Shoes Ltd. (Re), 1998 CanLII 837 (SCC), [1998] 1 S.C.R. 27, at para. 21, citing E. A. Driedger, Construction of Statutes (2nd ed. 1983), at p. 87).
[65] In conducting a vires review, a court does not undertake a de novo analysis to determine the correct interpretation of the enabling statute and then ask whether, on that interpretation, the delegate had the authority to enact the subordinate legislation. Rather, the court ensures that the delegate’s exercise of authority falls within a reasonable interpretation of the enabling statute, having regard to the relevant constraints.
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