Which forum is appropriate to determine jurisdiction of the underlying commercial dispute: the Ontario Superior Court of Justice or arbitration under the International Commercial Arbitration Act? In Bombardier Inc. v Alstom Rail Sweden AB, 2026 ONCA 528 (CanLii), the Ontario Court of Appeal reviewed this question under s. 9 of the International Commercial Arbitration Act, which incorporates the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration into Ontario law. The court upheld the competence-competence principle and the legal test for jurisdiction of arbitration set out by the Supreme Court of Canada in Peace River Hydro Partners v Petrowest Corp., 2022 SCC 41. The competence-competence principle holds that, normally, arbitrators should be permitted to rule first on their own jurisdiction. However, a court may rule on an arbitrator’s jurisdiction for pure questions of law or where questions of mixed fact and law require only a “superficial” consideration of the evidentiary record. A superficial review is one where … Read More