Reasons for Judgment — The Court
The Court — On August 1, 2014, Regulations Amending the Railway Interswitching Regulations, SOR/2014-193 (the “amending Regulations”), came into force. The amending Regulations were issued by the Canadian Transportation Agency, pursuant to its powers under the Canada Transportation Act , S.C. 1996, c. 10 , and following passage by Parliament of the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act, S.C. 2014, c. 8. The amending Regulations extend the interswitching distance limit from 30 km to 160 km for all commodities in the three Prairie Provinces, and prescribe new rates for interswitching rail traffic within that zone.
The appellant, Canadian Pacific Railway Company, asks this Court to declare the amending Regulations to be null and void, on the ground that the Agency acted improperly in issuing them by following government directives to expand the interswitching distance limit in the Prairie Provinces. The appellant concedes that the Agency was empowered to issue the amending Regulations; its complaint is not with the content of the amending Regulations, but with the process followed by the Agency.
The appellant also concedes that the Agency is presumed to have acted properly in making its decision to issue the amending Regulations. The question, therefore, is whether the appellant has adduced facts rebutting this presumption. In our view, it has not done so.
The appeal is dismissed, with costs to the Attorney General of Canada.