Does the Attorney General have an obligation to strike each contested cause of action before, at or after the AGNS has made a certification motion?

The respondent suggests that if the AGNS takes issue with the viability of the numerous causes of actions, they have an obligation to seek to strike each contested cause of action before, at, or after the certification motion. With respect, that defeats the purpose of class proceedings as I have outlined above and also ignores that it is the plaintiffs’ burden in a class action lawsuit to establish the cause of action exists. Although the burden is not a heavy one, it is the plaintiffs’. To accede to the respondent’s argument would result in “litigation by installments” with potential for multiple rounds of proceedings through various levels of court, a process to be avoided in class action litigation (Garland v. Consumers’ Gas Co., 2004 SCC 25; [2004] 1 S.C.R. 629, ¶ 90). When it comes to legislative intent, the interpretation of s. 7(1)(a) suggested by the AGNS is in keeping with the purpose and intent of the legislation. The Consequences of the Attorney General’s Interpretation