Megens v. Racing Comm., (2003) 170 O.A.C. 155 (DC)

• Judge: Lane, Brockenshire and Cameron, JJ.
• Court: Superior Court of Justice of Ontario (Canada)
• Case Date: April 01, 2003
• Jurisdiction: Ontario
• Citations: (2003), 170 O.A.C. 155 (DC)

Megens v. Racing Comm. (2003), 170 O.A.C. 155 (DC)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2003] O.A.C. TBEd. AP.048

Paul Megens (applicant) v. The Ontario Racing Commission (respondent)

(127/03)

Indexed As: Megens v. Ontario Racing Commission

Court of Ontario

Superior Court of Justice

Divisional Court

Lane, Brockenshire and Cameron, JJ.

April 11, 2003.

Summary:

The Ontario Racing Commission revoked Megens' licences. He sought judicial review.

The Ontario Divisional Court allowed the application and remitted the matter to the Commission for such further action as it might deem advisable.

Administrative Law - Topic 549

The hearing and decision - Decisions of the tribunal - Reasons for decisions - Suffi­ciency of - The Ontario Racing Commis­sion revoked Megens' licences - He sought judicial review - The Ontario Divisional Court allowed the application and remitted the matter to the Commission for such further action as it might deem advisable - The majority reasons utterly failed to grapple with numerous issues of im­portance respecting the credibility of the principal witnesses - They were deficient to the point of denying the applicant na­tural justice and procedural fairness - He and the court simply did not know why he and the witnesses favourable to him were disbelieved and the uncorroborated word of an admitted liar with a huge motive to bear false witness was preferred - See para­graphs 1 to 29.

Administrative Law - Topic 549

The hearing and decision - Decisions of the tribunal - Reasons for decisions - Suf­ficiency of - The Ontario Racing Commis­sion revoked Megens' licences - He sought judicial review - The Ontario Divisional Court allowed the application - The court found, inter alia, that while the reasons respecting penalty referred to the balance between protecting the public interest and the desire of individuals to participate in racing, they did not refer to having con­sidered any alternative penalty short of revoking Megens' licences - The decision therefore fell short of the standard of fairness required of sentencing authorities - See paragraphs 30 to 32.

Gaming and Betting - Topic 635

Horse racing - Regulation - Judicial review of Commission decisions - [See both Ad­ministrative Law - Topic 549 ].

Cases Noticed:

Hickey v. Ontario Racing Commission, [1997] O.J. No. 1230 (Div. Ct.), refd to. [para. 10].

McNamara v. Ontario Racing Commission (1998), 111 O.A.C. 375 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 10].

Erikson v. Ontario Securities Commission (2003), 169 O.A.C. 80 (Div. Ct.), refd to. [para. 11].

London (City) v. Ayerswood Development Corp. et al. (2002), 167 O.A.C. 120 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 12].

Herman Motor Sales Inc. v. Registrar of Motor Vehicle Dealers (1980), 1989 C.R.A.T. 128 (Ont. Div. Ct.), refd to. [para. 13, footnote 1].

Ontario Public Service Employees' Union, Thibert, Jung and McGill v. Ontario (Minister of Correctional Services) (1984), 2 O.A.C. 351; 5 D.L.R.(4th) 651 (Div. Ct.), refd to. [para. 13].

Service Employees' International Union, Local 333 v. Nipawin District Staff Nurses' Association et al., [1975] 1 S.C.R. 382, refd to. [para. 13, footnote 2].

Gray v. Disability Support Program (Ont.) (2002), 158 O.A.C. 244; 212 D.L.R.(4th) 353 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 15].

Baker v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [1999] 2 S.C.R. 817; 243 N.R. 22; 174 D.L.R.(4th) 193, refd to. [para. 15].

Northwestern Utilities Ltd. v. Edmonton (City), [1979] 1 S.C.R. 684; 23 N.R. 565; 12 A.R. 449, refd to. [para. 16, footnote 4].

Reference Re Remuneration of Judges of the Provincial Court (P.E.I.), [1997] 3 S.C.R. 3; 217 N.R. 1; 206 A.R. 1; 156 W.A.C. 1; 121 Man.R.(2d) 1; 158 W.A.C. 1; 156 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 1; 483 A.P.R. 1, refd to. [para. 16, footnote 4].

Boyle v. Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission (N.B.) (1996), 179 N.B.R.(2d) 43; 455 A.P.R. 43; 39 Admin. L.R.(2d) 150 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 17].

Faryna v. Chorny (1951), 4 W.W.R.(N.S.) 171 (B.C.C.A.), refd to. [para. 28, foot­note 6].

R. v. Norman (D.L.) (1993), 68 O.A.C. 22; 16 O.R.(3d) 295 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 28, footnote 6].

Heath v. College of Physicians and Sur­geons (Ont.) (1997), 102 O.A.C. 268; 6 Admin. L.R.(3d) 304 (Div. Ct.), refd to. [para. 28, footnote 6].

Stevens v. Law Society of Upper Canada (1979), 55 O.R.(2d) 405 (Div. Ct.), refd to. [para. 31].

Authors and Works Noticed:

de Smith, Woolf and Jowell, Judicial Re­view of Administrative Action (5th Ed. 1995), p. 467 [para. 17, footnote 5].

Counsel:

Peter A. Simm, for the applicant;

Donald Bourgeois, for the respondent.

This application was heard on March 31 and April 1, 2003, by Lane, Brockenshire and Cameron, JJ., of the Ontario Divisional Court. Lane, J., delivered the following decision for the court on April 11, 2003.