Senate Vacancies

On June 30, 2015, the Honourable Justice Jocelyne Gagné heard arguments from Aniz Alani and lawyers from the Department of Justice on whether a hearing into the constitutionality of the Prime Minister’s refusal to appoint Senators should be scheduled before the October 19, 2015 federal election. Under the current default time limits in effect, the case would be ready to be heard once the government files its written arguments by September 29, 2015. Government lawyers are unavailable for a hearing between…

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On June 26, 2015, the Respondents filed their motion record containing written argument opposing the Applicant’s request to have the application for judicial review heard before the Federal election scheduled for October 19, 2015. The motion will be heard on June 30 in Vancouver.

On June 24, 2015, the Applicant served a motion record and book of authorities in support of a motion for an abridgment of time and an expedited hearing of the application for judicial review in respect of the Prime Minister’s refusal to appoint Senators to fill existing vacancies. The Applicant’s motion is scheduled to be heard at the Federal Court in Vancouver at 701 West Georgia Street (Pacific Centre) on Tuesday, June 30th at 9:30am. Court proceedings are open to…

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On June 30, 2015, the Federal Court will hear a motion to expedite the timeline for a judicial review of the Prime Minister’s apparent refusal to fill Senate vacancies so that the case can be heard ahead of the federal election scheduled to be held on October 19, 2015. A notice of motion to abridge time limits and set an early hearing date was served on government lawyers on June 17, 2015. The application for judicial review was first filed on…

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On June 15, 2015, the Respondents Prime Minister and Governor General advised the Court by letter that there was no “decision not to advise the Governor General to fill the currently existing [Senate] Vacancies” as alleged in the Application. Accordingly, the Respondents took the position that there was no applicable requirement under Rule 317 of the Federal Courts Rules to provide the Court or the Applicant with a certified copy of the record of all materials placed before and considered by…

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Formal notice of a constitutional question to be raised in the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal proceedings has been served on all provincial and territorial attorneys general in accordance with section 57 of the Federal Courts Act. A copy of the Notices served in respect of the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal proceedings are available for download. In correspondence to provincial attorneys general, provinces were invited to apply for leave to intervene in the proceedings. As of June 15,…

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On June 8, 2015, lawyers for the respondents requested an extension of time from July 24 to July 31 for serving the government’s affidavit evidence. The applicant consented to the request for an extension of time. By order dated June 9, 2015, the Court extended the time limit for serving the respondents’ affidavits to July 31, 2015 and ordered that the remaining steps in the proceeding follow the time limits set out in the Federal Courts Rules unless modified by…

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On May 29, 2015, the Deputy Attorney General of Canada, on behalf of the Prime Minister and Governor General, filed a Notice of Appeal of Mr. Justice Harrington’s decision of May 21, 2015 dismissing the respondents’ motion to strike the application for judicial review. While the appeal is pending before the Federal Court of Appeal, the original application proceeds unless and until the Court of Appeal orders a stay pending appeal. No hearing dates have been set in either the…

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