Exercise G

1.       It is respectfully submitted that this appeal raises a broader question of law regarding the division of trust assets in an ongoing pension plan in the context of a corporate divestiture. The fundamental issue can be succinctly expressed - to implement a sale transaction involving an ongoing pension plan comprised of trust assets derived from employer and employee contributions, can an employer unilaterally divide the trust assets in a way that discriminates between identically placed groups of plan members, in the absence of express language in the Trust and Plan documents authorizing such differential treatment?

2. The decision of this Court in Schmidt v. Air Products Canada Ltd., [1994] 2 S.C.R. 611 ("Schmidt") is the starting point for the analysis of the principles applicable to pension plan surplus. Schmidt established the general principle that one must first look to the applicable plan documents to determine the rights, duties and obligations in relation to pension plan assets. In this regard, it is critical to determine whether a true trust has been established, and, if so, the assets to which the trust applies. Schmidt further stands for the general principle that if, upon a proper construction of the HBC Plan documents, a trust has been created, another important principle follows: trust law principles are applicable and prevail in relation to such assets.

The following are from Williams, Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace (3d ed.); Wydick, Plain English for Lawyers, 4th ed.

3.       Many city dwellers find it a necessity to give up on life as it exists in the city at the present time as a consequence of things such as dirt and crime that finally defeat them despite the fact that on the occasion of their leaving for more rural environs, they often come to the realization that they wish they again had the intensity and excitement that makes life in the city such a stimulating experience.

4. Regardless of the fact that the training program has a long financial problem history and management-staff dispute record because of unclear responsibility definition, it is equally true that in the period of the last few years or so, it has with considerable success placed in the area of 50 percent of its trainees in various different jobs and positions equal to their training and skill-level preparation.

5. By establishing a technique whereby the claims of many individuals can be resolved at the same time, class actions serve an important function in our judicial system in eliminating the possibility of repetitious litigation and providing claimants with a method of obtaining enforcement of claims that would otherwise be too small to warrant individual litigation.