Ontario Highway Traffic Act

No its not biased. He is allowed to testify as a witness as well.

From the Ontario Evidence Act https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90e23

Presumption of competency
18. (1) A person of any age is presumed to be competent to give evidence. 1995, c. 6, s. 6 (1).

Challenge, examination
(2) When a persons competence is challenged, the judge, justice or other presiding officer shall examine the person. 1995, c. 6, s ...

Once the trial starts, yes the prosecutor can still amend... the amendment can happen anytime DURING the trial if there is evidence to support the amendment.

Remember that DEMERIT points are meaningless to insurance companies. For example a 0 demerit speeding ticket and a 3 demerit speeding ticket are both considered a MINOR offence by insurance companies and will both cause the same increase.

If you are found guilty though, it will go on your record and it is up to your insurance company to decide if ...

What is the exact section number you were charged with on the ticket? What is the Set Fine amount on the ticket? Is ticket signed?

Posting disclosure notes would be helpful, but whenaxis brings up a good point.

So if you go to trial, remember there are two different phases you need to be aware of...

The first is when the officer is on the ...

Yes you only plead guilty when you get in front of JP and they read the charge and ask you how you plead.

But again you have nothing to lose by saying NOT GUILTY and continuing with the trial. The worst that can happen is that you are found guilty at the end of it, but best case is that you actually get the charge dropped.

If you just plead ...

a) If officer does not show, then prosecutor should withdraw the charge, but may also try to set new trial which you should object to.
c) If witnesses do not show, then prosecutor should withdraw the charge, but may also try to set new trial which you should object to.

b) If officer shows AND at least one of the witnesses shows, then you may have ...

If no plea deal is offered then you must either just plead guilty to original charge or take it to trial and try to beat it.

If no plea deal is offered then you really have nothing to lose by taking it to trial. Maybe the JP will believe you, as there might be contradictory testimony given by the other witnesses.

Some prosecutors will not tell ...

What you can do is go to the Provincial Offences Office on a day before your trial and ask then for:
- a copy of the origincal Certificate of Offence, and
- a copy of both sides of the Notice of Offence that you filed.

If the change is on BOTH then there is no issue for you to be concerned about.

If the change is ONLY on the Notice of Offence ...

I would object if the officer tries to say/read something that was not in the notes you were provided. Actually at the beginning of the trial when the officer first takes the stand, the prosecutor will ask him a few questions about his notes and then ask permission from the JP to be able to use them. The JP should ask you if you have any questions ...

Your wife does not need to be there so that is irrelevent unless you want her to take the stand and testify. Since I believe you do want her to testify, you can ask for an adjournment because she is about to have baby, but then that delay will count against you and will not count towards an 11b application.

If you can get an adjournment because ...

They could probably proceed without any witnesses except the other driver, although that would not be a strong case for them as the other driver will say you went thru a red light and you will say it was green so it comes down to who the JP believes more.

If they have the other driver and at least one additional witness that will say you went thru ...

There are three levels of proof required:
- mens rea
- strict liability
- absolute liability

Tickets for things like speeding and failing to stop are considered absolute liability, meaning either yes you did or no did not do it. Whether you meant to do it or not is irrelevent. As soon as you admit you did it, you are guilty and there are no ...

Yes.

If officer does not show, then you can request the charge be dropped. That is probably best course of action.

Getting on stand and saying you stopped 99% will just mean you admitted you did not stop and by your own words you will be found guilty. You probably do NOT want to testify.

If the officer is not there, but they are still going to proceed ...