Peter McLaren (politician)

In 1881, the 4th Ontario parliament passed the Rivers and Streams Act, mainly due to a dispute between McLaren and a rival lumber company over access to McLaren's timber slides on the Mississippi River.[4][5] The enactment gave the right to individuals to flow logs down rivers, creeks, and streams, and allowed those who made improvements along a river to receive a toll set by the lieutenant governor from others floating logs down a river.[4] The Ontario law was disallowed by the John A. Macdonald government.[6] The report on disallowance cited removal property rights from individuals down river who would be forced to become "toll-keeper against his will",[4] which amounted to taking away the "rights of one man and vest them in another" which a legislatures power to do so was deemed "exceedingly doubtful".[7] The decision to disallow the Act went against the principles of disallowance Macdonald previously authored in 1868, and was protested by the Premier of Ontario Oliver Mowat and opposition in Parliament, including Wilfrid Laurier.[7][8][9] Further accusations came from the opposition claiming the decision was motivated, as McLaren who petitioned for disallowance was a known political friend of Macdonald.[7] Macdonald's conservative government was unsuccessful at arguing that this disallowance aligned with previous decisions, and conservative Dalton McCarthy conceded in parliament that the disallowance was based on a new principle.[10] Macdonald defended the decision on the concept of protecting property rights and it was within the general interest of the Dominion to maintain those rights to ensure continued certainty in investment.[11] Gérard La Forest believed the report authorizing the disallowance was not authored by justice minister James McDonald was actually written by John A. Macdonald, as McDonald would cease his role as justice minister only a few days after its publication.[4]

The Ontario legislature protested the disallowance and passed the same Act three more times, all of which were disallowed, and finally a fourth attempt in 1884 which was not disallowed and continued as law.[11][8] The issue was settled in the landmark case McLaren v Caldwell by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council which upheld the enactment.[12][13]