In Consortium MR Canada ltée v Morissette, 2021 QCCS 2847, Justice Philippe Bélanger heard an appeal of an arbitral award pursuant to which MR was required to carry out remedial work on buildings built by it, as general contractor, which had longstanding water problems and to pay extra-judicial fees because of its abusive behaviour in failing to remedy the problems. MR appealed the award on a number of grounds, including that that the “attitude and remarks” made by the arbitrator during the hearing were a breach of his duty of impartiality. It filed affidavits from witnesses and MR representatives, who said that the arbitrator “seemed disinterested” and “seemed to favour the [building owners]”. Justice Bélanger found that while the arbitrator clearly demonstrated irritation with respect to MR’s delays in completing its remedial work, a reasonable person would not think that this rose to the level of bias.
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notes on new arbitration cases in Canada