Can the global pandemic affect jury trials in Ottawa?

At the motions court level in Louis v. Poitras at 2020 ONSC 5301, Beaudoin J. observed that the global pandemic has caused the court to suspend jury trials in Ottawa, which he found to be a substantial and unexpected change. Justice Beaudoin found that real and substantial prejudice arises simply by reason of delay, and that delay was determinative in the circumstances of that case, arising as it did in the context of the global pandemic. This conclusion was not disturbed on appeal: Louis v. Poitras, 2021 ONCA 49, at para. 33.

In Johnson v. Bielmayer, 2021 ONSC 1245, Sanfilippo J. held that the pandemic constitutes a substantial and unexpected change, and that it would be in the interests of justice to permit the plaintiff to bring his motion to strike the jury notice. While Sanfilippo J. does not use the terminology that originates in Hill that the court consider whether the refusal to grant leave would be “manifestly unjust”, I note that the defendant consented to the leave sought by the plaintiff. I also note that Sanfilippo J. acknowledged that if he had to decide the leave issue, he would have granted leave on the basis that the plaintiff had satisfied both the tests.