If an order is not clear or ambiguous, is the reason for judgment an indicator of the objective meaning of the order?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Basyal v Mac’s Convenience Stores Inc., 2021 BCSC 1002 (CanLII):
If the order is not clear or is ambiguous, the reasons for judgment are the “strongest indicator” of the objective meaning of the order: R v. Rajaratnam, 2019 BCCA 209 at paras. 155-156. However, as Mr. Justice Girouard stated in Canadian Pacific Railway: “[t]he reasons of judgment are mere opinions which may be considered as part of the judgment in so far as they disclose the grounds upon which it is rendered, but they cannot vary the text or dispositif of the formal judgment.”
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