Case information

Administrative law — Judicial review — Arbitration award — Standard of review — Concept of reasonable outcome — Whether it is in public interest for this Court to intervene in order to discard concept of reasonable outcome in respect of facts and law or at least to clarify its role and scope in matters of judicial review.

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In 2019, the applicant, Hydro-Québec (“Employer”), unilaterally changed the working conditions of the mobile operators working at the Outardes-3, Outardes-4 and Manic 3 hydroelectric plants and the Micoua substation in the Manicouagan region (collectively, “mid-complex plants”). Those conditions were set out in letters of agreement that had applied since the 1980s. The respondent, the Syndicat des employé-es de métiers d’Hydro-Québec, section locale 1500 (SCFP-FTQ) (“Union”), filed a grievance to force the Employer to honour the rights and privileges attached to the collective agreement and the letters of agreement. It also sought financial compensation for loss of the benefits provided for in those documents as well as exemplary damages. The arbitrator, Pierre-Georges Roy, dismissed the Union’s grievance on the basis of the Employer’s right of management. The trial judge found that the arbitrator’s conclusion was not a reasonable outcome. He allowed the application for judicial review, set aside the arbitrator’s decision, allowed the grievance and ordered the Employer to comply in full with the letters of agreement. He referred the matter back to another arbitrator for a decision on the issue of damages and the monetary compensation to which the aggrieved employees were entitled. A majority of the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal on the ground that the arbitration award was unreasonable.