Some Highway Traffic Act offences carry a mandatory minimum fine that a court must impose on conviction. That minimum is not always absolute, but the exception is meant to be used sparingly.
What to Know
- Section 59(2) of the Provincial Offences Act allows a court to go below a statutory minimum fine where imposing it would be unduly oppressive or against the interests of justice.
- A Court of Appeal decision from December 2018 set out the framework courts now use to assess this kind of request.
- Relief typically requires documented, severe personal or financial hardship — not simply that the fine is inconvenient to pay.
- Courts treat this discretion as the exception, not the rule, and most minimum fines stand as set.
Bottom Line
Where a genuine hardship exists, it is worth raising properly and with documentation — but the more common path to a smaller fine is challenging the charge itself, not asking a court to waive the minimum.
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