OTTAWA – In a decision released earlier this month, the Federal Court of Appeal said it would hear an application made by the Attorney General of Canada to set aside the September decision by Justice Russell Zinn who said a finding of workplace harassment against former Ontario CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan was unfair.
Click here for our coverage of the case.
The application for appeal said judge Zinn erred in a number of decisions which led to his ruling and an appeal will be heard in Toronto at a date yet to be determined.
Then, on Monday, Shoan lost in court when a Federal Court judge made a bench ruling dismissing the former commissioner’s request for a judicial review into how CRTC hearing panels are named. Shoan had challenged the authority of the CRTC chair to appoint panels pf commissioners to determine matters under the Telecommunications Act and the Broadcasting Act.
The Court, without calling on counsel for the Attorney General, dismissed the application. Past practice has always been that the chair appoints the panels for hearings – and likely due to the strife between former commissioner Shoan and chairman Jean-Pierre Blais and other staffers, Shoan was named to very few panels during his tenure, which lead to his court filing, as we reported on here.
The court found that the Chairperson does have the implied authority to appoint panels under the CRTC Act. The court also pointed to the recognition of the chair's authority to appoint panels in the by-laws.
