Speaker's warrant would cause Laurentian University 'irreparable harm,' says lawyer

If Laurentian University is required to submit privileged information to Ontario's Legislative Assembly, it would cause "irreparable harm," argue legal counsel for the Sudbury university.

During court proceedings Tuesday, Laurentian's lawyers asked Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz of the Superior Court of Justice to stay the execution of a Speaker's warrant against the institution.

The Ontario Legislature voted unanimously on Dec. 9 to issue a Speaker's warrant that would compel Laurentian to provide the province with privileged documents related to its insolvency.

But Laurentian lawyer Fredrick Schumann said it would cause Laurentian "irreparable harm" if those documents were disclosed.

Schumann referred to the legal definition of "irreparable harm," speaking about the nature of the harm, and not necessarily its magnitude. In other words, the harm to the institution could not be repaired with financial restitution. 

Schumann's colleague, Brian Gover, argued the Legislative Assembly did not have a right to privileged information because its intent would be to share that information with Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk.

Lysyk has requested privileged documents to help her conduct a value-for-money audit of Laurentian, which declared it was insolvent on Feb. 1, 2021.

In a decision last week, Morawetz determined the auditor general was not entitled to access that privileged information for her audit.

Gover called the Legislative Assembly's Speaker's warrant an "end run" to bypass the auditor general's inability to obtain the documents.

Different institutions

But Rick Dearden, legal counsel for the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario, used the analogy of two different train stations to counter that argument.

He said the auditor general is at one train station, and the Legislative Assembly's Speaker's warrant is at another. They are two different institutions, he said, governed by different laws.

"In my respectful submission, there is no end run," Dearden said. 

Josh Hunter, counsel for the Attorney General of Ontario, also said a decision preventing the auditor general from accessing privileged information herself should not prevent the Legislative Assembly from doing so.   

Hunter said that as a post-secondary institution, which has received millions of dollars from Ontario taxpayers, Laurentian falls under the jurisdiction of the Legislative Assembly.

"This motion should be dismissed," he said. "Laurentian should comply with the will of the elected assembly that created it and gave it hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds."

Finding out what happened

Sudbury MPP Jamie West told CBC News the Speaker's warrant was not issued to punish Laurentian, but to understand what led to its insolvency, the eventual cancellation of more than 30 programs, and the dismissal of more than 100 staff and faculty members.

"What it comes down to, really, is that in order for Laurentian to be successful, people want to know what happened," West said. "They cannot get to that rebuilding stage until they understand what's happened right now."

After a full day of deliberations, Morawetz said he would arrive at a decision as to whether or not the court could stay a Speaker's warrant "as soon as possible."