Leave to appeal to Court of Appeal for Ontario under the POA

Antorisa Investments Ltd. v. Vaughan (City), 2012 ONCA 586, granting leave to appeal, sets out the test for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal for Ontario:

The Test for Granting Leave – Section 131 of the Provincial Offences Act

[7]          Section 131 of the Provincial Offences Act reads as follows:

131.  (1)  A defendant or the prosecutor or the Attorney General by way of intervention may appeal from the judgment of the court to the Court of Appeal, with leave of a judge of the Court of Appeal on special grounds, upon any question of law alone or as to sentence.

(2)  No leave to appeal shall be granted under subsection (1) unless the judge of the Court of Appeal considers that in the particular circumstances of the case it is essential in the public interest or for the due administration of justice that leave be granted.

[8]          The law on s. 131 is well-settled: see, for example, R. v. Castonguay Blasting Ltd., 2011 ONCA 292 (in Chambers), at paras. 14-15. In order for the Applicants to obtain leave, they must establish: (i) special grounds; (ii) on a question of law alone; and (iii) that, in the particular circumstances of this case, it is essential in the public interest or for the due administration of justice that leave be granted.  What constitutes "special grounds" in s. 131(1) is informed by the requirement in s. 131(2) that it is essential in the public interest or for the due administration of justice that leave be granted.  The threshold for granting leave is very high.