Canada Industrial Relations Board lacked jurisdiction to certify bargaining unit of employees working for commercial manufacturer of medical cannabis

MedReleaf Corp. and UFCW, Re
2016 CCRI 829, 2016 CIRB 829
Canada Industrial Relations Board

Labour and employment law --- Labour law — Labour relations boards — Jurisdiction — Constitutional jurisdiction — Federal employees

Employer, privately owned commercial manufacturer of medical cannabis, operated under license issued pursuant to Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations enacted under Controlled Drugs and Substances Act — Union applied under Canada Labour Code to certify bargaining unit of employees — Application dismissed — Operation was not federal undertaking under Code — Canada Industrial Relations Board lacked jurisdiction — Operation was commercial in nature for purpose of growing, harvesting, selling and distributing licensed product, namely cannabis — Growing, harvesting, marketing, selling and delivering of specialized product is ordinary local commercial activity and cannot be considered federal undertaking — License to operate business came with strict conditions but that did not change nature of daily operations — Parliament's exclusive authority over criminal law did not make employer federal undertaking by operation of s. 2(i) of Code.