This judgment seems really focused on the Ontario rules of civil procedure and the onerous disclosure requirements contained therein. Other cases that the defendants relied on were often instances where a party sought the disclosure of records from a third-party not otherwise involved in the action. I would agree that there should be a high standard to meet to order someone who isn't part of a court action to reveal their records.
Here, however, the information is being sought from the defendant. All parties to litigation, whether in Ontario or Alberta, are obligated to disclose all relevant documents unless they are privileged. The information sought by the plaintiff is pretty clearly relevant to the proceedings. The defendants did not do much to argue that the information is privileged but tried to rely on precedent and public policy arguments. Those failed to persuade the judge that the standard disclosure obligations should not apply.
As far as costs go, there was little discussion of that point in the decision. Both parties submitted an outline as to costs (which weren't specified in the decision). The plaintiff was successful and received his costs. As onetwo_threefour pointed out, costs on interim applications like these are often payable at the ultimate conclusion of the matter but the judge in this case made them payable now and went so far as to prohibit the defendants from taking any further steps until those costs are paid.
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