Reasons for Judgment — Rowe J. (Abella, Karakatsanis, Côté and Brown JJ. concurring)
. . . assuming that resort to the [curative] proviso is required in this case, it is my view that the substance of the proviso point was raised. In her submissions before this court, Crown counsel placed considerable reliance upon the argument that the defence effectively conceded at trial that the donation claims were fraudulent and instead relied entirely on the appellant’s claim that he lacked knowledge of the fraud. On this basis, the Crown argued that even if the impugned evidence amounted to opinion evidence, it did not go to the only live issue at trial. The Crown also noted that Maraj’s impugned statements comprised a small portion of the evidence advanced during a multi-day trial, and were admitted without objection by defence counsel. In my view, these lines of argument amounted in substance to a submission that even if there was an error in admitting the evidence or in failing to conduct a voir dire, no substantial wrong or miscarriage of justice had occurred and the appeal should be dismissed on that account.