Legal News

Appeal Court strikes claim that employers' association improperly lobbied government

The BC Court of Appeal recently struck a claim by an association of unions which alleged that an employers’ organization attempted to improperly persuade the Provincial government to enact legislation favourable to the organization’s members.

The appeal was launched by the Paramedical Professional Bargaining Association (“PPBA”) in response to a BC Supreme Court decision which dismissed the PPBA’s action against the Health Employers Association of BC (“HEABC”). The PPBA alleged that the HEABC, without notice to the PPBA, had improperly importuned government to enact Bill 29, the Health and Social Services Delivery Improvement Act, 2002. The PPBA argued the HEABC’s conduct deprived it of the opportunity to lobby the government to abandon Bill 29.

The Court of Appeal struck the claim on the basis that the PPBA’s allegations disclosed no cause of action.

Paramedical Professional Bargaining Association v. Health Employers Association of BC, 2005 BCCA 42, January 17, 2005.