To OP, just go to the first appearance, if the cop shows up, you know he's not going to let it go, these days no cop does, all these people giving you advice are not experienced, or reffering to the system of things from 5 years ago, alot has changed in the system in the past two years.
That being said, the only way you are getting off these days is if the cop has left the force. Just to give you an idea of how this works, if you are a person who considers them selves very lucky, you may have a shot, im one of those people on the other hand who has bad luck, i got a speeding ticket for doing 80 in a 60 zone, when i was only doing 62, cop knew me from the school i attend and he sits there picking on students leaving the university late at night, i was one of them.
To make it short, he pulled me over for my dim front headlight but came back with a speeding ticket, you bet i was confused, tired after a long day i could careless at the time, specially when he was really nice and hinted he woud not show up, so i never even got the full disclosure based on his word. But he did show up 6 months later to the first appearance only for me that also and he was OFF DUTY!, when in fact he told me he would not show up, i guess he said that because he was afraid i would then be prepaired and get the full disclosure and take him to trial, i took him to trail that day anyways and i lost miserably, even though the cop had no proof and i convinced the court with my case that he was wrong/had no proof/doubt, during questioning, but i still lost because they are ALL in it, the prosecuter, the JP and the cops, they see each other everyday and are all there to convict you at all costs! unless you have a good lawyer or professional representation you are not going to win period! and most of my friends come to me with advice when it comes to this stuff, since im basically a self taught lawyer in a sense, and do have experience in court, and i still lost to a cop who had his story all wrong and no reasonable proof.
All you can do in your case is get a good lawyer and get him to do what that cop told you ''off the record'', you will not win even if you try yourself, they will pull ''we are professionals and we are right'' moves on you all day and the JP will convict you at the end.
your best bet is to wait for first appearance, if the cop shows up, request for a reschedule or trail date, just a month before the trail date contact the prosecutor for a meeting, the only thing they will do for this charge is ''no license suspension'' like they did for me, and i had GM license by the time i got this ticket sorted, because i had one other ticket with it, and i kept delaying successfully for a year and a half, till i just realised the cop would keep showing up. There is no way around tickets anymore, either you pay a good lawyer to get it dropped if you have a case or the most he could do also is the same thing you could do plea guilty to a lesser charge.
The system is collapsing, the country is in so much debt, that now they have made even police officers quotas higher, so they have to convict more people and make more money for the system, thats why gas prices, food prices, clothing, everything is going up every year, because Canada is just trying to keep its interest debt in check.
in short, no cop will let any one off in the future, its getting to that point, 10 years ago, 6 out of 10 cops would have let you go for the M1 violation, now none! if you don't want a ticket, just don't get caught simple as that.
ps; you were still lucky, my bike was impounded, and i had to pay $250 for it being impounded for less then 24 hours, then i also had to pay $110 for the M1 fine, and the only thing they reduced was the no suspension because the cop also gave me an unsafe turn on offroad, for pulling to the side of the road for the a hole. oh and i had my M2 at the time, the cop never checked it properly he just saw my old m1 slip with my policy and ownership, and i guess was desperate and issued the ticket, i thought maybe it took a while for the system to update...moral of the story, you feel like you got but raped, trust me there are people out there who get worse, who are probably much nicer then you or me.
good luck though, this is a serious douschebag law, i seen kids in my area, with no helmet, no lights, riding like hooligans 2am at night on bicycles on the road in the on coming directions, and cops pass them not doing anything, then to pull over a motorcycle a block down for tail lights.
The M1 conviction stays on for 2 years.
