. The decision surprised many legal scholars who considered it to be inconsistent with previous Supreme Court cases where provincial laws of a moral nature were upheld under the provincial power (see "Canada (AG) v Montreal (City of)", [1978] and "Nova Scotia (Board of Censors) v McNeil" [1978]). This was also the first case where the "Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms" was cited in argument to the Supreme Court, although the Charter argument was ultimately abandoned during the hearing.