Reference re Alberta Statutes
| Reference Re Alberta Statutes | |
|---|---|
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| Court | Judicial Committee of the Privy Council |
| Full case name | Attorney General of Alberta v Attorney General of Canada |
| Decided | July 14, 1938 |
| Case history | |
| Appealed from | Reference Re Alberta Statutes - The Bank Taxation Act; The Credit of Alberta Regulation Act; and the Accurate News and Information Act 1938 CanLII 1, [1938] SCR 100 (4 March 1938), Canada) |
| Court membership | |
| Judges sitting | The Lord Chancellor, Lord Atkin, Lord Thankerton, Lord Russell of Killowen, Lord Macmillan |
| Case opinions | |
| Decision by | The Lord Chancellor |
Reference Re Alberta Statutes, also known as the Alberta Press case and the Alberta Press Act Reference, is a landmark reference of the Supreme Court of Canada where several provincial laws, including one restricting the press, were struck down and the existence of an implied bill of rights protecting civil liberties such as a free press was first proposed.
The province of Alberta, under the Social Credit government of William Aberhart had passed several laws as part of a series of reforms inspired by social credit economic theory. Arising from the 1937 Social Credit backbenchers' revolt, the Legislative Assembly of Alberta passed several Acts to implement the Social Credit agenda, to which royal assent was given:
In August 1937, the federal government disallowed all three Acts. The Supreme Court of Canada, in answering reference questions posed by the federal government, unanimously ruled that such disallowance was valid.
Following the disallowance, the Alberta legislature passed the following bills in October 1937:
All bills were reserved by Lieutenant-Governor John C. Bowen. As a result, the federal government posed the following reference questions to the Supreme Court as to whether it was intra vires the provincial legislature to pass any of those measures.
All six members of the Court declared the subject matter of all the bills as ultra vires the province. In addition, the Court ruled 5-0 (Cannon J expressing no opinion) that the Alberta Social Credit Act was unconstitutional as well, as it attempted to intrude on the federal powers relating to currency, banks and banking, and trade and commerce.
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