Does the limitation period apply to a class action before a certification hearing?

Further, on the basis of MacKinnon v. Money Mart, supra, a court is left with more limited scope to strike out class proceedings, prior to the certification hearing, because the cause of action nexus is between class members and the defendants and not simply the proposed representative plaintiff and the defendants. Therefore, upon being served with the plaintiff’s writ of summons, the defendants could not reasonably have expected to be free from the claims of the Proposed Plaintiffs and other putative class members, on the basis of the expiration of the limitation period, even if they quickly realized that the proposed representative plaintiff had no personal cause of action against them.