Date: 19990923
Docket: A-718-97
(T-1273-97)
CORAM: MARCEAU J.A.
DESJARDINS J.A.
LÉTOURNEAU J.A.
BETWEEN:
MERCK & CO., INC., and
MERCK FROSST CANADA INC.
Appellants
(Applicants)
- and -
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH,
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR CANADA,
APOTEX INC., and
APOTEX FERMENTATION INC.
Respondents
(Respondents)
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
(Delivered from the Bench at Montréal, Québec,
on Thursday, September 23, 1999)
MARCEAU J.A.
[1] We are all of the view that the interlocutory decision of a motions judge in the Trial Division to sustain objections raised during the cross-examination of an affiant in a judicial review proceeding should not be disturbed. The grounds on which the objections were taken were that the documents requested and the information sought " which were all concerned with the exercise by the Minister of Health of his duties under the Food and Drugs Act , R.S.C. 1985, c. F-27, and the Food and Drug Regulations, C.R.C., c. 870, in assessing the safety and efficacy of a drug for which he issued a Notice of compliance under the authority of the Food and Drug Act " were not relevant to the proceedings.
[2] In our judgment, the learned motions judge was right in denying the appellant standing to question before the Court, in these proceedings, the validity of the Minister"s decision to issue the Notice of compliance on the sole basis that the Minister"s findings as regard the safety and efficacy of the drug would have been reached in an unsatisfactory manner. By deciding as he did, the motions judge was simply abiding by principles set down by many rulings of this Court and based, in our opinion, on a proper understanding of the type of responsibilities assigned to the Minister by Parliament in this context, as well as the nature of the judicial process and the role of a court of law.
[3] As to the award of costs by the motions judge, we cannot say that the discretion granted to him by the Rules of the Court was exercised "unjudicially" in the circumstances of this case.
[4] The appeal can therefore only be dismissed with costs.
"Louis Marceau"
J.A.
Date: 19990923
Docket: A-718-97
(T-1273-97)
CORAM: MARCEAU J.A.
DESJARDINS J.A.
LÉTOURNEAU J.A.
BETWEEN:
MERCK & CO., INC., and
MERCK FROSST CANADA INC.
Appellants
(Applicants)
- and -
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH,
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR CANADA,
APOTEX INC., and
APOTEX FERMENTATION INC.
Respondents
(Respondents)
Heard at Montréal, Québec, on Wednesday, September 22 and Thursday, September 23, 1999.
Judgment rendered from the Bench on Thursday, September 23, 1999.
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT OF THE COURT BY: MARCEAU J.A.
IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF APPEAL
Date: 19990923
Docket: A-718-97
(T-1273-97)
BETWEEN:
MERCK & CO., INC., and
MERCK FROSST CANADA INC.
Appellants
(Applicants)
- and -
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH,
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR CANADA,
APOTEX INC., and
APOTEX FERMENTATION INC.
Respondents
(Respondents)
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
OF THE COURT