Ontario Municipal Board - Hearings Organization

Hearings Organization

The Board attempts to hold full and fair hearings that are timely and efficient and to that end controls its own process through pre-hearings resulting in Procedural Orders that organize matters up to a hearing of the merits. Finalizing an Issue List is an important step. The Board expects Parties who place an issue on the Issue List to call a case in support of that issue. The Board expects Parties to disclose to the Board, the likely number of witnesses to be called, the distribution between lay and expert witnesses, and the subject area the evidence of each will address. The Board uses this information to make a judgement on the length of hearing time required. It also uses the information to direct steps the Parties must take and deadlines they must meet to ensure there is both proper disclosure to Parties opposite of the case they must meet as well as providing appropriate opportunities for Parties to scope issues even further and identify areas where settlement may be possible.

While a trier of fact at the hearing of the merits makes the final determination of relevance, at the pre-hearing stage the Board must be satisfied that evidence to be called in support of each issue has at least a semblance of relevance.