Background
During the 1970s General Motors (GM) sold vehicles to both City National Leasing (CNL) and to CNL's competitors. It was discovered that GM was giving CNL's competitor a better interest rate than CNL, which violated the federal Combines Investigation Act. In its defence GM argued that the provision in the Act that created the civil cause of action was outside the legislative competence of the federal government.
The motions judge found that the provision was ultra vires the federal government and struck it out. The Court of Appeal overturned the decision.
The issues before the Supreme Court were
- whether the Combines Investigation Act, either in whole or in part, was intra vires Parliament under s. 91(2) of the Constitution Act, 1867, and
- whether s. 31.1 was within the legislative competence of Parliament.
Read more about this topic: General Motors Of Canada Ltd. V. City National Leasing
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)