In a May 26 decision on a judicial review application — Haulage Network Driving Academy Inc. v. Ontario (Superintendent of Career Colleges) 2025 ONSC 2492 — Ontario Superior Court Justices Shaun O’Brien, Nancy Backhouse and Alexandre Kaufman quashed the superintendent’s June 2023 forfeiture action and ordered the superintendent to return Haulage’s $97,000 security bond. Haulage, the applicant, was also awarded costs of $28,000.
Alexander Evangelista — a Toronto-based partner with Fogler, Rubinoff LLP who served as counsel for Haulage Network Driving Academy Inc. with colleagues Justin Jakubiak and David Levangie — said the decision represents the first time to his knowledge that the court has reviewed a decision by the superintendent to forfeit a career college's security bond.
“This is not only an important decision for Haulage personally, but also for those operating in the administrative and regulatory space, particularly given the Court's comments on the limits on exercises of discretionary powers and expectations around procedural fairness,” he said in an email to Law360 Canada.
“It remains to be seen whether the superintendent will attempt to appeal the decision,” he added.
The superintendent exercises powers under the Ontario Career Colleges Act, 2005, which requires private career colleges to post a security bond to ensure that students will receive refunds if a school closes its doors.
A spring 2023 investigation by the superintendent resulted in allegations that Haulage, which operates three campuses in southern Ontario, had breached required student-to-instructor ratios and failed to adhere to required space standards during instruction on backing maneuvers.
In May 2023, according to facts detailed in the decision, the superintendent issued notices of contravention, suspension and refusal to renew Haulage’s registration to operate. About a week later, on June 1, 2023, it deemed Haulage’s security bond forfeit. The truck driving school found out about the forfeiture two weeks later through its bank.
It appealed the superintendent’s decisions to the Licence Appeal Tribunal, which directed the superintendent in fall 2023 to lift the suspension and to not carry out its notice of proposal to refuse registration. It also ordered the superintendent to immediately re-register Haulage with conditions in place. After the tribunal decision, Haulage asked the superintendent to return its $97,000 security bond. The superintendent denied the request and asked Haulage to provide an additional $10,000 bond.
The Ontario Superior Court panel found, however, that by failing to give Haulage proper notice of the bond forfeiture, the superintendent was both unreasonable and failed to exercise procedural fairness according to the factors set out in the Supreme Court of Canada’s 1999 decision in Baker v. Canada 2 SCR 817.
“Looking at the statutory scheme and the nature of the decision, the most important consideration is that the forfeiture was discretionary rather than mandatory,” wrote Justice O’Brien for the panel.
“I agree the Superintendent would be entitled to consider a variety of factors in exercising her discretion, including, importantly, student protection,” she added. “But considering the wording of s. 34(1) [of the regulations] and the twelve-month window to act, student protection does not militate in favour of an immediate decision without any notice to the affected college.”
In addition, the court found that the superintendent's decision lacked justification and failed to consider the circumstances of the case, including the impact on the applicant’s business, its compliance history, and the findings of the tribunal.
“There can be little doubt the forfeiture decision was enormously important to Haulage,” wrote Justice O’Brien. “As it turned out, Haulage ceased operations because of the suspension and forfeiture. Its campuses were closed for seven months pending the appeal before the Tribunal.”
Ultimately, she noted, the truck driving school ceased operations in April 2024 due to financial difficulties caused by the notices and forfeiture and is still out of business.
The court said that the superintendent’s reliance on a blanket policy of immediate forfeiture in all cases was also unreasonable. In addition, it found that the tribunal’s findings, which highlighted confirmation bias in its investigation, and the applicant’s overall responsiveness to feedback further constrained the superintendent’s ability to justify the forfeiture.
Because the tribunal’s findings made it clear that forfeiture could no longer be justified, the court declined to remit the matter to the superintendent and, instead, ordered the return of the forfeited funds to the applicant as a meaningful remedy for the harm caused.
Late last year, the province initiated a broader crackdown on truck driving schools, partly in response to a CBC Marketplace investigation that called into question the integrity of some truck driver training in Ontario.
All truck driver training program approvals were effectively revoked as of late 2024 and all career colleges offering truck driver training were required to resubmit detailed program materials for approval.
Counsel for the respondent, the superintendent of career colleges, was Sarah Pottle of the Ministry of the Attorney General. The superintendent’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
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