Lord Atkin:-

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada delivered on 17th June 1936, on a reference by the Governor-General in Council dated 5th November 1935, raising the question whether S. 498-A of the Criminal Code is ultra vires of the Parliament of Canada. The Supreme Court unanimously held that sub-ss. (b) and (c) were not ultra vires, and by a majority, the Chief Justice, Rinfret, Davis and Kerwin, JJ., Cannon and Crocket, JJ. dissenting, held that sub-s. (a) also was not ultra vires. The S. 498-A was introduced into the Criminal Code by S. 9 of 25 and 26 Geo. V., C. 56, the title of which is an Act to amend the Criminal Code:

Section 9. The said Act is further amended by inserting after section four hundred and ninety-eight the following section:

498-A. Every person engaged in trade or commerce or industry is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to a penalty not exceeding one thousand dollars or to one month's imprisonment, or, if a corporation, to a penalty not exceeding five thousand dollars, who

(a) is a party or privy to, or assists in, any transaction or sale which discriminates, to his knowledge, against competitors of the purchaser in that an