In Katz, the Supreme Court set out the approach to judicial review of regulations. The Katz approach is (or, maybe, was) a carve-out from the general law of judicial review. As Professor Daly notes, it grants a “hyperdeferential” margin of appreciation to those that promulgate regulations. The Katz approach, based on previous cases, simply asked whether regulations are “irrelevant” “extraneous” or “completely unrelated” to the statutory scheme (Katz, at para 28), with the challenger bearing the onus.
Whether Katz has survived Vavilov is an open question. Vavilov purported to be a “comprehensive approach” to the determination of the standard of review (Vavilov, at para 17) for administrative action. On its face, that means that Vavilov‘s formula for determining the standard of review should apply to all instances of judicial review of administrative action—including judicial review of not only adjudicative acts, but “legislative” acts, as well. This would be a change, though: pre-Vavilov, there was (at least in theory) no judicial review for the “reasonableness” of legislative acts, and such decisions could not be set aside for errors other than jurisdictional ones. Specifically, Katz incorporates the old adage that judicial review does not entitle a court to review the merits of the legislative act, its “political, economic, or social…” context, or even whether it actually is rationally connected to its objective (see Katz, at para 28; Thorne’s Hardware, at 112-113).
Enter the recent decision of the Federal Court of Appeal (per Stratas JA) in Portnov. There are many issues in the case, but one concerned the propriety of Katz post-Vavilov. For the Court, Stratas JA suggests an easy answer to this question: “Thus, in conducting reasonableness review, I shall not apply Katz. I shall follow Vavilov” [28]. Stratas JA offers a number of reasons for this conclusion:
- The Katz approach (and its predecessors) were organized around the fundamental concept of “jurisdiction,” a “vestige” which Vavilov “eradicated” [22];
- Oddly, in the pre-Vavilov era, the Supreme Court sometimes simply reviewed regulations for their reasonableness under cases like Catalyst and Green [24].
- Vavilov is “intended to be sweeping and comprehensive” [25], and if there is a question as to whether Vavilov applies to an issue not addressed in that case, courts should ask how Vavilov’s general framework applies [25].
- Katz is a rule that “applies across-the-board to all regulations,” that “sits uneasily with Vavilov which adopts a contextual approach to reasonableness review” [27].
I think Portnov is right on the money.
Katz is problematic, in my view, because it (1) undermines the coherence of Vavilov’s simplicity; and (2) undermines the virtue of the contextual approach to reasonableness in Vavilov.
First, Vavilov was an attempt to finally address Binnie J’s comments in Dunsmuir, which encouraged a standard of review framework that “…get[s] the parties away from arguing about the tests and back to arguing about the substantive merits of their case” (Dunsmuir, at para 145). Part of this was the introduction of a presumption of reasonableness for most cases of judicial review. As I have written before, I have issues with this broad-based presumption (I do not buy the assumption that delegation necessarily implies deference) but it has one virtue: it may be wrong, but it is strong—it simplifies matters a great deal. That presumption, and the associated correctness exceptions, are largely principled. They are based on the core constitutional concepts of legislative sovereignty (choice to delegate) and the Rule of Law (guaranteeing judicial review of certain stringency on certain questions). A carve-out for regulations, with an ultra-deferential approach, simply complicates the conduct of judicial review for no principled reason. This is because whether an administrator is exercising adjudicative power or legislative power, it is delegated power all the same. And from the perspective of simplicity (with due regard for countervailing considerations) Vavilov‘s general principles for determining the standard of review should be determinative in all instances of judicial review of administrative action.
This is an issue of doctrine, but Stratas JA also provides good substantive reasons for not applying Katz. The contextual approach to reasonableness introduced by Vavilov, too, has its flaws: context can sometimes lead to uncertainty. But if context is adequately described by markers of unreasonableness (say, the “constraints” offered in Vavilov), the uncertainty is limited. Applying those constraints to the context of legislative instruments is perfectly justifiable. It may be, as in Catalyst or Green, that Vavilovian reasonableness is quite relaxed when dealing with certain legislative instruments. In other cases it may be more stringent. The constraints offered in Vavilov take account of the legislative context in a way that, at least to some extent, tracks the words and language used by the legislature to delegate power. With a fine-tuned approach like this, there is no need for a presumptive rule that puts a thumb on the scales for those that promulgate regulations based on any functional reasons.
Some judges of the Supreme Court have indicated an interest in preserving the coherence of Vavilov based on its general principles. In Wastech, for example, Brown and Rowe JJ filed a concurring opinion that would have applied Vavilov to the context of a commercial arbitration. They would have applied a correctness standard of review based on Vavilov’s holding on rights of appeal. These judges said this in Wastech:
[120] Factors that justify deference to the arbitrator, notably respect for the parties’ decision in favour of alternative dispute resolution and selection of an appropriate decision‑maker, are not relevant to this interpretive exercise. What matters are the words chosen by the legislature, and giving effect to the intention incorporated within those words. Thus, where a statute provides for an “appeal” from an arbitration award, the standards in Housen apply. To this extent, Vavilov has displaced the reasoning in Sattva and Teal Cedar.Concluding otherwise would undermine the coherence of Vavilov and the principles expressed therein.
I think this is the right approach. Vavilov’s general principles have much to say about many forms of decision-making. And, luckily for us, the fact that these principles have something to say makes judicial review much simpler for the parties and courts. No need for special rules any longer, and so I hope this Kat(z) is out of lives.
For more on this issue, see the following resources:
Paul Daly
Double Aspect 
How can it be an open question whether Katz survives Vailov if Vavilov cites Katz favourably? As with Doré, it seems to me that just because a precedent is unpopular in some circles cannot imply that Vavilov overruled it.
Vavilov overruled Newfoundland Nurses and Edmonton East (Capilano). Beyond that I don’t think it overruled any SCC precedent and it specifically addressed both Katz and Doré. It assimilated Katz to « legal constraints » including common law.
I feel it is dangerous to expand the situations in which courts can overrule cabinets on the grounds they are unreasonable. That’s what Twitter and elections are for.
Hi Gareth, not sure I agree at all on this one. Vavilov does not cite the Katz approach favourably. It cites Katz for another, uncontroversial proposition about the common law acting as a constraint on administrative decision-making. Your point about it being “dangerous” to overrule cabinets may very well be a policy position that is popular and worth supporting, but not sure what that has to do with what Vavilov says!