In a recent interview with Law360 Canada, Craig Ferris, KC, FCIArb., commented on a decision where he and his team successfully defended against an appeal brought forward by the City of Vancouver. The appeal was against a previous Supreme Court of BC decision that limited the City’s ability to use a business licensing bylaw to impose a second layer of legislation on businesses already regulated by the provincial or federal government.

“The case was decided on a ‘very narrow issue,’ as Vancouver is the only municipality in British Columbia that has a charter, but it suggests that people ought to be very careful with duplicating provincial legislation absent express statutory authority,“ said Craig. “Municipalities are creatures of the province, and they need to find their powers in what the province gave them, and not usurp powers to themselves. There must be an ability for landlords to run these buildings appropriately — to keep them up, maintain them, and make sure there’s proper fire safety. And what the City was trying to do would have, in my view, had just made conditions worse for the people who are using those types of facilities.”

Read the full article here*.

Find out more about the decision here.

^{*Note: this article is available behind a paywall.}