What is the role of the Rules of Civil Procedure in the administration of civil justice in Canada?

The administration of civil justice in Canada starts with the premise that individual litigants are entitled to their day in court. The case law is replete with examples of the wide discretion given to trial judges to interpret the Rules with practical compassion. The Rules are the servants of responsive and responsible litigation, not the masters of the litigation. In Reekie v. Messervey, 1990 CanLII 158 (SCC), [1990] 1 S.C.R. 219 at 222, this concept was put thus, “As a general principle, the rules of procedure should be the servant of substantive rights and not the master.”