What is considered speculation when it comes to drawing inferences from the record?

There is a legal distinction between speculation and drawing inferences from the circumstantial and direct evidence on the record. The trier of fact is permitted to do the latter, but not the former. In this context, “speculation” is the drawing of an inference in the absence of any evidence to support that inference or in situations where the inference is unreasonable - for example, where the inference does not logically and rationally follow from the proven fact. Drawing inferences based on an “educated guess” is speculation. If the inference drawn is reasonable, however, a reviewing court should not intervene just because other inferences (even arguably better inferences) could also have been drawn, see, for example, Walton v. Alberta (Securities Commission), 2014 ABCA 273 at paras. 26-27.