Telefilm Canada v. Festival canadien des films du monde

Telefilm Canada v. Festival canadien des films du monde Court (s) Database Federal Court of Appeal Decisions Date 2006-09-21 Neutral citation 2006 FCA 305 File numbers A-646-05 Decision Content Date: 20060921 Docket: A-646-05 Citation: 2006 FCA 305 CORAM: DÉCARY J.A. LÉTOURNEAU J.A. NADON J.A. BETWEEN: TELEFILM CANADA (ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA) Appellant and FESTIVAL CANADIEN DES FILMS DU MONDE and ÉQUIPE SPECTRA INC. and REGROUPEMENT POUR LE FESTIVAL DE CINÉMA DE MONTRÉAL Respondents Hearing held at Montréal, Quebec, on September 11, 2006. Judgment delivered at Ottawa, Ontario, on September 21, 2006. REASONS FOR JUDGMENT: DÉCARY J.A. CONCURRED IN BY: LÉTOURNEAU J.A. NADON J.A. Date: 20060921 Docket: A-646-05 Citation: 2006 FCA 305 CORAM: DÉCARY J.A. LÉTOURNEAU J.A. NADON J.A. BETWEEN: TELEFILM CANADA (ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA) Appellant and FESTIVAL CANADIEN DES FILMS DU MONDE and ÉQUIPE SPECTRA INC. and REGROUPEMENT POUR LE FESTIVAL DE CINÉMA DE MONTRÉAL Respondents REASONS FOR JUDGMENT OF THE COURT [1] This appeal raises procedural issues which were first addressed by Prothonotary Morneau on April 5 and 19, 2005, then by Mr. Justice de Montigny, of the Federal Court, on December 21, 2005 (2005 FC 1730). The backdrop of this litigation is Telefilm Canada’s decision, announced on September 7, 2004, to end the grant that the agency had for several years given to the Festival des Films du Monde (FFM) and to proceed with a call for proposals with a view to funding a broadly inclusive film event in Montréal in 2005. On December 17, 2004, Telefilm Canada accepted the proposal of the Regroupement pour le Festival de Cinéma à Montréal, the implementation of which would be assured by Équipe Spectra Inc. (hereinafter Regroupement and Spectra). FFM did not submit a proposal, convinced that the dice had been loaded against it beforehand. [2] On December 10, 2004, FFM filed in the Superior Court of Quebec a motion to institute proceedings for declaratory judgment and permanent injunction, in which FFM asked the Superior Court to declare unlawful the call for proposals of September 7, 2004, and sought exemplary and moral damages in the amount of $2,500,000. [3] On January 6, 2005, Telefilm Canada served in Superior Court a motion for declinatory exception on the grounds that that Court did not have jurisdiction to rule on the lawfulness of the call for proposals. [4] On January 14, 2005, FFM filed in Federal Court a notice of application for judicial review against the decisions of Telefilm Canada dated September 7, 2004, and December 17, 2004. [5] Two months later, on March 10, 2005, Telefilm Canada filed a motion to strike the application for judicial review on the grounds that it disclosed no reasonable cause of action (section 221 of the Federal Courts Rules), that it was challenging not one but two decisions, contrary to section 302, and that the Attorney General of Canada, rather than Telefilm Canada, should be named as respondent based on section 303 of the Rules. There was no allegation in Telefilm Canada’s motion regarding FFM’s delay in challenging the decision dated September 7, 2004. [6] On March 23, 2005, FFM filed a motion to amend the designation of the parties in the notice of application, to replace Telefilm Canada by the Attorney General of Canada and to add Regroupement and Spectra as respondents. [7] On April 5, 2005, Prothonotary Morneau dismissed the motion to strike filed by Telefilm Canada insofar as it contemplated the decision of December 17, 2004. With regard to the decision of September 7, it appears that he took the initiative to suspend the proceeding so that FFM could apply to a Federal Court judge for an extension of the 30-day time limit for challenging the decision. [8] On April 19, 2005, Prothonotary Morneau granted in part the motion to amend the notice of application, striking Telefilm Canada from the style of cause and keeping Regroupement and Spectra as the sole respondents. [9] On July 12, 2005, FFM filed a motion for extension of time to challenge the decision dated September 7, 2004, and to join in one proceeding the challenges against both of Telefilm Canada’s decisions. [10] Faced with this procedural imbroglio, the details of which I thought unnecessary to restate in their entirety, Mr. Justice de Montigny, on December 21, 2005, granted FFM’s motion for extension of time, dismissed Telefilm Canada’s motion to strike, gave leave to include both challenged decisions in a single application for judicial review and reinstated the Attorney General of Canada as a respondent, with Regroupement and Spectra. He awarded costs to FFM. [11] This appeal bears on all of the judge’s determinations, with the exception of those allowing the joinder of the proceedings. The extension of time [12] Here there is interlocutory procedure and considerable judicial discretion exercised by the judge. [13] FFM’s motion for extension of time was indeed filed several months after the time limit and worse still, several months after Prothonotary Morneau gave FFM leave to file one. However, even in March 2005, in the multi-faceted motion that it submitted to the Court, Telefilm Canada did not make any allegation about the delay. The situation is certainly distinctive. Many events occurred, a considerable number of proceedings – not all of them very useful – were filed in a relatively short period of time. I do not know whether I would have made the same determination as the Federal Court judge, but I cannot substitute my opinion for his, unless, in the words of Chief Justice Isaac in VISX, Inc. v. Nidek Co., (1996), 209 N.R. 342 (F.C.A.) at paragraph 10, “it is demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Court that the Motions Judge either erred in his or her appreciation of the pleadings or if he or she erred in law in making the order, either by misapplying a principle of law or by applying an erroneous principle.” Telefilm Canada did not persuade me that this was the case. The motion to strike [14] Mr. Justice de Montigny, pointing out from the outset how the Court was reticent to strike an application for judicial review before a hearing on the merits, stated that in his opinion the application was so clearly unfounded that it had no chance of success. Presuming the allegations in the notice of application to be true, the judge could easily have made this finding. [15] The same can be said regarding Telefilm Canada’s argument to the effect that FFM did not have sufficient interest to challenge the decisions of September 7, 2004 and December 17, 2004. At the stage of the motion to strike, and particularly when an application for judicial review is involved, the lack of interest must be clear. The lack of interest is certainly not clear with regard to the decision of September 7, 2004. The existence of an interest with regard to the decision dated December 17, 2004, is more problematic, given that FFM did not see fit to file a proposal. As it is possible that the outcome of the first decision could influence the outcome of the second, it would be best to let the entire debate follow its course. [16] It goes without saying that the judge hearing the matter on the merits may reassess, if need be, the existence of a cause of action and an interest. The status of the Attorney General of Canada [17] With regard to the decision of September 7, 2004, the decision to proceed with a call for proposals, it appears obvious to me that the Attorney General of Canada is an appropriate respondent. Who better than the Attorney General to defend the correctness of Telefilm Canada’s decision, not knowing that proposals would be made? [18] With regard to the decision dated December 17, 2004, it is possible that Regroupement and Spectra, whose proposals were accepted, are the most appropriate parties to defend the correctness of Telefilm Canada’s decision. Given the limited interest they have demonstrated at this stage, the decision to make the Attorney General of Canada a respondent appears to me to serve the interests of justice. [19] In any event, even if it is possible that Regroupement and Spectra are not the appropriate respondents with regard to the first decision and that Attorney General of Canada is not an appropriate one with regard to the second, the two challenges were joined in a single proceeding and to accept Telefilm Canada’s proposal would only lead to pointless arguments. The costs in Federal Court [20] Telefilm Canada alleges that Mr. Justice Montigny should not have awarded costs to FFM, on the grounds that, if I understand correctly, several issues arose because of FFM’s procedural blunders. [21] It is true that, procedurally, FFM was the author of part of its own misfortunes. However, the fact is that substantively – on the striking out and the extension of time – FFM was successful. Has this appeal become moot? [22] A few days before the hearing on the appeal, the representative of the Attorney General of Canada invited the Court to dismiss the appeal on the grounds that [translation] “this appeal . . . has now become moot” since the organization (the Festival International du Film de Montréal) that in 2005 received the grant that had until then been awarded to FFM had already spent the grant and had ceased its activities in 2006, and since Telefilm Canada had not launched other calls for proposals. [23] At the hearing, counsel pointed out that she was not pleading the mootness of the appeal as much as the mootness of the actual application for judicial review. She is in effect asking the Court to decide, at the appeal stage of an interlocutory order made in the context of an application for judicial review which is still in its infancy because of the filing of a motion to strike (that I found to be premature), that the application for judicial review must be dismissed for being moot. This Court cannot at this stage, absent evidence of the relevant facts, cut short the proceedings brought by FFM, even more so because the debate initiated by FFM regarding Telefilm Canada’s civil liability is pending before the Superior Court of Montréal. The costs on appeal [24] FFM’s counsel are seeking, in the event that this appeal is dismissed, exceptional fees on the basis that, in their opinion, the appellant abused proceedings. [25] The respondent FFM, as I pointed out earlier, is responsible for a good number of the procedural problems raised by this dispute. The proceedings initiated by the appellant at least had the effect of clarifying the situation. Counsel are apparently at odds with one another; that is unfortunate and does not in any way help in the management of this matter. But this does not justify awarding costs on a basis other than the one recognized by the Federal Courts Rules, namely that of the center column of Tariff B. Conclusions [26] I would dismiss the appeal, with costs established in accordance with column III of Tariff B of the Rules. “Robert Décary” J.A. “I concur. Gilles Létourneau J.A.” “I concur. M. Nadon J.A.” Certified true translation Kelley A. Harvey, BCL, LLB FEDERAL COURT OF APPEAL SOLICITORS OF RECORD DOCKET: A-646-05 APPEAL FROM AN ORDER BY MR. JUSTICE DE MONTIGNY OF THE FEDERAL COURT DATED DECEMBER 21, 2005, DOCKET NUMBER T-66-05. STYLE OF CAUSE: TELEFILM CANADA (ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA) and FESTIVAL CANADIEN DES FILMS DU MONDE and ÉQUIPE SPECTRA INC. and REGROUPEMENT POUR LE FESTIVAL DE CINÉMA DE MONTRÉAL PLACE OF HEARING: Montréal DATE OF HEARING: September 11, 2006 REASONS FOR JUDGMENT: DÉCARY J.A. CONCURRED IN BY: LÉTOURNEAU J.A. NADON J.A. DATE OF REASONS: September 21, 2006 APPEARANCES: Chantal Sauriol Anne-Marie Desgens Louis-Paul Cullen FOR THE APPELLANT Louis Buteau Tatianna Debbas FOR THE RESPONDENT– FESTIVAL CANADIEN DES FILMS DU MONDE SOLICITORS OF RECORD: John H. Sims, Q.C. Deputy Attorney General of Canada Montréal, Quebec Ogilvy Renault (as legal advisors) Montréal, Quebec FOR THE APPELLANT Robinson Sheppard Shapiro Montréal, Quebec FOR THE RESPONDENT- FESTIVAL CANADIEN DES FILMS DU MONDE