ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF SASKATCHEWAN Vs. ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF CANADA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an Appeal by special leave from a judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada, dated 13 May 1947 (Rinfret C. J., Kerwin, Rand and Kellock JJ.; Taschereau J., dissenting), which answered a question propounded by the Governor-General in Council concerning the constitutional validity of S. 6, Farm Security Act, 1944, enacted by the Legislature of the Province, of Saskatchewan, as amended by S. 2 of chap. 28 of the Statutes of Saskatchewan, 1945. There was also a second question, framed on the hypothesis that the said S. 6 was not ultra vires, and asking whether the section was operative in the case of mortgages securing loans by the Crown in right of Canada and in certain analogous cases. The majority in the Supreme Court bald that S. 6 was wholly ultra vires and therefore found it unnecessary to answer the second question. Taschereau J. was of opinion that S. 6 was intra vires, and answered the second question in the negative.

(2.) The questions referred by the Governor-General in Council to the Supreme Court for hearing and consideration were formulated as follows : "1. Is S. 6, Farm Security Act, 1944, being Chap. 30 of the Statutes of Saskatchewan 1944 (second session) as amended by S. 2 of Chap. 28 of the Statutes of Saskatchewan, 1945, or any of the provisions thereof, ultra, vires of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan either in whole or in part and if so in what particular or particulars and to what extent ? 2. If the said S. 6 is not ultra vires, is it operative according to its terms in the case of mortgages (a) securing loans made by His Majesty in right of Canada either alone or jointly with any other person under the National Housing Act, 1944, or otherwise ; (b) securing loans made by the Canadian Farm Loan Board ; or (c) assigned to the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation?"

(3.) The Farm Security Act, 1944, of Saskatchewan is entitled "An Act for the Protection of Certain Mortgagors, Purchasers, and Lessees of Farm Land" and the main object of the Act is to lighten the contractual obligations of a mortgagor or purchaser of farm land in the event of the yield of grain grown upon the land falling below a prescribed minimum. The earlier sections of the Act provide for relief of this nature being granted also to lessees, who rent such land on the terms that the lessor is to receive a share of the crop, but S. 6 is concerned only with the modification of the contractual rights of mortgagees or vendors of farm land in respect of the contractual payments due to them in the event of a "crop failure".