- Parties: The applicant was Democracy Watch. The respondent was the Attorney General of Canada.

- Subject Matter: The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner issued a decision concerning the Prime Minister’s alleged conduct in participating in two decisions involving the“WE Charity”. A judicial review application sought to set aside this decision. The applicant moved under r. 317 of the Federal Courts Rules, SOR/98-106 to disclose documents from the Commissioner and argued that disclosure was necessary for it to prosecute its application. The Commissioner refused under r. 318.

- Ruling: The appeal court issued a r. 107 order stating that the application should proceed in two stages. In the first stage, the court should hear and determine the legal issue of whether s. 66 of the Conflict of Interest Act, 2006 was wholly or partly applicable. If s. 66 applied, the court could dismiss the application if appropriate. If s. 66 was wholly or partly inapplicable, the court should issue an interim declaratory judgment to that effect. That judgment would adjourn the remainder of the application for the prosecution of the second stage. In the second stage, the court should hear and determine some or all of the applicant’s grounds that remained after applying s. 66.

- Date: The court released its decision on Feb. 21, 2024. A hearing was set on Mar. 25, 2024.

- Venue: This was a federal case before the Federal Court of Appeal.

- Amount: No financial award was specified.