Crown application to have case management / trial judge recuse himself from hearing a Jordan application. Judge had previously granted a defence adjournment which was opposed by the Crown. Argument that a reasonable apprehension of bias arose from the fact that the judge would inevitably have to rule on the correctness of his prior adjournment ruling.
Held: Application dismissed.
Test for recusal requires that a reasonable person would conclude that it is likely that the decision maker would not decide the case fairly. Test not met. Important for judicial officers to not readily accede to suggestions of appearance of bias, so as to lead a party to think that by disqualifying a judge they will have their case tried by someone more favourable: Broda, 2000 ABQB 948. “The mere fact that a party has received a negative ruling before a case management judge does not entitle that party to obtain a recusal of that judge … Any other proposition would render criminal case management impossible to operate.”
S. Kothari, D. Jugnauth, J. Blumer, M. Deshaye – Defence Counsel