Quebec (Attorney General) v. Canadian Owners and Pilots Association, 2010 SCC 39, [2010] 2 SCR 536, also referred to as Quebec v. COPA, is a leading case of the Supreme Court of Canada on determining the applicability of the doctrines of interjurisdictional immunity and federal paramountcy in Canadian constitutional law.
An aerodrome, registered under the federal Aeronautics Act, was constructed on land zoned as agricultural in the province of Quebec.
Interjurisdictional immunity was held to apply in the matter, under a two-part test that was stated by McLachlin CJ: [27] The first step is to determine whether the provincial law ... trenches on the protected “core” of a federal competence.
If it does, the second step is to determine whether the provincial law’s effect on the exercise of the protected federal power is sufficiently serious to invoke the doctrine of interjurisdictional immunity.
In those cases where the doctrine applies, it serves to protect the immunized core of federal power from any provincial impairment.