In (Re) El-Bouji, 2019 ONSEC 19, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) determined that the test on a motion to strike portions of an affidavit filed by Staff in response to the respondent’s motion challenging the Commission’s jurisdiction to adjudicate certain allegations in a Notice of Hearing and Statement of Allegations is essentially the same as the test set out in Rule 25.11 of the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure. Orders by the OSC to strike evidence in advance of a hearing or another motion should be made only for “special reasons”, based on the criteria set out in Rule 25.11, and in the clearest of cases.
The respondent’s allegation that certain of the information contained in Staff’s affidavit was irrelevant did not warrant the striking of those passages, absent the existence of other grounds set out in Rule 25.11. “Relevance and admissibility are considerations for the panel hearing the evidence on the [jurisdictional] motion”.
