Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to LA FOIP, Chapter 1, Purposes and Scope of LA FOIP. Updated 7 March 2023. 28 According to case law, two statutes are not repugnant simply because they deal with the same subject: application of one must implicitly or explicitly preclude application of the other. (P.-A. Cote, The Interpretation of Legislation in Canada (3rd ed. 2000), at p. 350)56 Section 22 of LA FOIP ensures that the fundamental rights enshrined in LA FOIP are given proper deference when interpreting legislative intent as to its application in conjunction with other statutes. This primacy clause is a strong expression of legislative intent and a tool for ensuring public policy objectives are met. In the event of a contest between two statutes, the legislature is presumed to not intend conflict between the statutes. Therefore, if an interpretation allows concurrent application, that interpretation should be adopted.57 The following three-part test can be used to determine whether two laws can coexist or are in conflict: 1. Does compliance with one law involve the breach of the other? The first test is one of pure conflict. 2. Does one law supplement the other? The second test is whether one law is supplemental to the other by adding something. If the law is supplemental, then it will be valid concurrently with the other law. 3. Does one law duplicate the other? The third test involves whether one law duplicates another such that there is not an actual conflict or contradiction. Mere duplication without actual conflict or contradiction is normally not sufficient to invalidate a law. It would simply mean that the local authority would be held to the higher standard of the competing statutes.58 56 Lévis (City) v. Fraternité des policiers de Lévis Inc., 2007 SCC 14 (CanLII), [2007] 1 SCR 591 at [47]. See also SK OIPC Review Report 149-2017 at [52]. 57 SK OIPC Review Report F-2009-001 at [39]. 58 SK OIPC Submission to the Workers Compensation Act Committee of Review, April 29, 2011 at pp.10, 14 and 15. This test was also utilized in several SK OIPC Review Reports including F-2014-001 at [86] to [117], 276-2017 at [16] to [20] and 088-2014 at [8] to [25].
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