The owner of the Vancouver Sun and Province newspapers has lost a contentious, four-year  battle to publish advertisements over the objection of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union.

The dispute centred around  a decison by CEP  Local 2000 (the Media  Union of B.C.)  to refuse to allow Telus ads in newspapers during a 2005 Telus strike.

Pacific Newspaper Group, which is owned by Canwest Publishing, filed a judicial-review application to quash an April 2008 ruling by a Labour Relations Board reconsideration panel.

On December 31, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Elaine Adair  refused to overturn  the reconsideration panel's  decision, which upheld the union's "hot edict" against Telus advertisements.

She ruled that the reconsideration panel's ruling was not "patently unreasonable", which is a legal test that must be met to quash LRB decisions.

During the lengthy litigation, three  LRB reconsideration panels found errors in earlier LRB decisions in the handling of the PNG application.

"While Pacific does not use the words 'irrational' or 'absurd' to describe this result, that is the implication of its submissions," Adair wrote.  "Whether or not I agree with the Board’s decision to exercise its discretion so as not to vary or cancel the February 2007 Decision, or to remit the matter to the Original Panel, and whether or not I think it is the correct decision, is irrelevant.  The question is whether the Board’s decision is patently unreasonable, keeping in mind that the Board’s decisions are located at the very high end of the range of deference."

In September 2005, LRB vice chair Greg  Mullaly dismissed PNG's first application without a hearing after the union filed a procedural objection.  The company filed an application for leave and reconsideration  at the board.  

In its reconsideration, the LRB panel  referred the issue back to Mullaly with instructions to consider the company's application under section 70 of the Labour Relations Code.

Section 70 gives the board the power to void the union's "unfair employer declaration". In addition, the board has legal authority to consider the  impact of the hot edict on the company's business and operations.

On October 11, 2005, the Media Union of B.C. rescinded the  hot edict  after the Telus  strike ended. This meant that Telus ads could go back into the PNG publications.

But PNG kept up the fight, and in June 2006, the company lost again.

Once again, PNG applied for leave and reconsideration. This was granted, but in February 2007, the company lost again at the LRB.

After yet another application for leave and reconsideration, the board`s reconsideration panel  ruled in 2008  that the original panel had erred in the way it dealt with the matter. But  the reconsideration panel  didn't set aside the original ruling.

PNG subsequently applied for judicial review in B.C. Supreme Court  to quash the third reconsideration decision on the basis that it was patently unreasonable.

In her decision, Adair wrote that the company argued   the amount of litigation and length of time were "completely beyond its control" and that  the delay "directly related to the repeated errors by the Original Panel".

She noted that the reconsideration panel concluded that "generating further litigation was not consistent with good labour relations under the Code, and that it was time for the parties to move on".  

"While Pacific clearly does not agree that it should be forced to move on without being able to pursue a remedy in relation to the events in the fall of 2005, the conclusion reached by the Board–that, in the circumstances, generating further litigation was not consistent with good labour relations–can be rationally supported by the relevant legislation," Adair wrote. "As the Board has explained it, its interpretation of the Code provisions, yielding the result in the April 2008 Decision, is not patently unreasonable."