Date: 20000526
Docket: T-1581-99
Between :
FREDERICK EDWARD TAYLOR
Applicant
- and -
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA
CANADA PENSION PLAN
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
PINARD, J. :
[1] The applicant seeks judicial review of a decision rendered by Justice G. R. McMahon, a member of the Pension Appeals Board (the Board) on March 22, 1999, refusing his request for leave to appeal a decision of the Pension Review Tribunal (the Review Tribunal) to the Board.
[2] The applicant, who is fifty-seven years old, started working as a reinforcing ironworker in 1966. He suffered a back injury on November 27, 1987, while working on the Skydome in Toronto. This injury kept him out of the workforce until December 1, 1988. The applicant went back to work until January 5, 1990, when his back was injured a second time. The applicant claims that he has not worked since this accident.
[3] The relevant date of onset according to the applicant's Canada Pension Plan contributions must not be later than December 1992.
[4] The applicant initially applied for a disability pension in June 1990. His application was denied by the Minister in July 1991. He appealed to a Review Committee (as it then was) and was denied in March 1993. Finally, the applicant appealed to the Board, where he was denied in 1994. All of these denials were based on the degree of severity of the applicant's symptoms and the finding that he was capable of performing light or sedentary employment.
[5] The applicant reapplied for disability benefits. This application was denied by the Minister in April 1997. The applicant appealed this decision. The Review Tribunal dismissed his appeal on June 8, 1998, on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence that there was deterioration in the applicant's condition between the date of his initial application and December 1992. The applicant sought leave to appeal this decision to the Board.
[6] The application for leave to appeal the decision of the Review Tribunal was denied by Justice McMahon on March 22, 1999. The relevant paragraphs of his decision read as follows:
| [. . .] |
| Leave to appeal is granted when the decision of the Review Tribunal is unreasonable and not supported by the evidence, when an error in principle has been made, or when relevant new evidence has been presented with the Application for Leave to Appeal. |
| After reviewing the decision and carefully considering the evidence filed, I find that the decision of the Review Tribunal was not unreasonable and could be supported by the evidence, that no error in principle has been made, and that the medical report of Dr. Thompson which was presented after the Review Tribunal decision would not likely have resulted in a different conclusion. The Minimum Qualifying Period (M.Q.P.) was December 31, 1992 and the doctor's letter, dated June 28, 1992, did not mention ability to work. |
[. . .]
[7] The applicant relies on new medical evidence such as a letter from Dr. Frank Bugeja, dated May 10, 1999, to prove "severe and prolonged disability for the time in question of my first application for Canada Pension". Dr. Bugeja's report is appended to the applicant's affidavit filed in support of this application for judicial review together with many other exhibits which were not before Justice McMahon at the time he made his decision.
[8] As there is no evidence that the applicant was unduly prevented from filing any of the above exhibits before Justice McMahon, they cannot be considered in order to deal with and dispose of the present application.
[9] In the circumstances, the applicant not having raised any other specific issue, I am not satisfied that Justice McMahon committed any reviewable error.
[10] Consequently, the application for judicial review is dismissed.
JUDGE
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
May 26, 2000