Howard Rubel

In a fraud prosecution alleging billing of the Ontario Drug Benefit Plan for drugs not dispensed, the Crown sought a pre‑trial ruling admitting “prescriber verification letters” completed by physicians during a government audit.

The Crown argued the documents were admissible as business records under s. 30 of the Canada Evidence Act or under the principled hearsay exception.

The court found the letters were not business records because they were not created or maintained in the ordinary course of medical practice and were prepared during an investigation.

Reliability concerns also arose from physicians’ testimony that their answers may have been influenced by memory gaps or investigator comments.

The court held the principled hearsay exception was not satisfied because reliability and necessity were not established.

The Crown brought an application during a criminal fraud prosecution seeking admission of a spreadsheet summary prepared by a police investigator analyzing drug purchase and billing records.

The spreadsheet relied on information from Ministry of Health databases and records obtained from a pharmaceutical wholesaler.

The court held that the Crown failed to establish that the underlying documents constituted admissible business records under s. 30 of the Canada Evidence Act or at common law.

Because the source documents themselves were inadmissible, the summary derived from them could not be admitted.

The court also expressed serious concerns regarding the reliability and completeness of the underlying data sources.