LPIC – Federal Court of Appeal finds that LPIC was not exempt under s. 149(1)(d.5) because its owner, the Law Society, did not provide municipal-type services

Lawyers’ Professional Indemnity Co. did not qualify under s. 149(1)(d.5) as being owned by a “municipal or public body performing a function of government in Canada” because its parent, the Law Society of Upper Canada, although a “public body,” did not satisfy the test of “performing a function of government .”

Mactavish JA, on the basis of a detailed textual and contextual analysis as well as a review of the legislative history, concluded that the 2013 expansion of s. 149(1)(d.5) to encompass something more than just municipalities was intended to include only “entities that while not legally municipalities, nevertheless possess attributes of, and provide services similar to those provided by municipalities.” The Law Society did not so qualify because its “primary focus … is on the regulation of the legal profession in Ontario, and it does not provide the type of services that are typically provided by municipalities or municipal bodies in a localized geographical area.”

Neal Armstrong. Summaries of Lawyers’ Professional Indemnity Company v. Canada, 2020 FCA 90 under s. 149(1)(d.5) and Statutory Interpretation – Interpretation Act – s. 14, Redundancy and Consistency.