Fort Frances Pulp and Paper V. Manitoba Free Press - Opinion of The Council

Opinion of The Council

The Council held that it was not in their power to determine if there was a "national emergency", it is entirely in the authority of Parliament to determine the existence of a national authority. An emergency is determined by common sense, thus World War I was clearly a "national emergency" and was sufficient reason to invoke the "emergency doctrine". Nonetheless, the Council noted, any use of the emergency power must be temporary. However, it was for the federal government to decide when the state of emergency was over, and as such, "very clear evidence that the crisis had wholly passed away would be required to justify the judiciary, even when the question raised was one of ultra vires which it had to decide, in over-ruling the decision of the Government that exceptional measures were still requisite."

This decision, like many others of its time, completely ignored the "national concern" doctrine established earlier in Russell v. The Queen.