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Fairness - Contrasted With Other Doctrine. The Law Society of Upper Canada v. Watson [contrasted with bias]
In The Law Society of Upper Canada v. Watson (Ont CA, 2026) the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal, here relating to "the threshold requirement for an award of wasted costs against the appellant, the Law Society of Ontario (the “LSO” or the “Law Society”)[1] in a conduct application".
Here the court sets out how the Divisional Court and the LSO tribunals conflated a bias issue with one of procedural fairness:[30] Additionally, some of the allegations that the Divisional Court accepted, such as the one-sided nature of the investigation, do not appear to be rooted in the fairness of the investigation in the sense of Mr. Watson’s right to participate in the process. The allegations instead seem to be concerned with impartiality and a reasonable apprehension of bias, as was at issue in the Ringrose v. College of Physicians and Surgeons (Alberta), 1976 CanLII 172 (SCC), [1977] 1 S.C.R. 814, relied on by the Divisional Court. Indeed, the Hearing Division noted that Mr. Watson’s key concern was that the investigation was biased against him.
[31] Therefore, the Baker procedural fairness framework is not the operative legal framework on this costs appeal. This is not an appeal seeking to quash the Tribunal’s decision for breach of procedural fairness. ....
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