The appellants were joint tenants of land that the respondent city purported to expropriate by by-law.
One appellant, a non-resident, was not served with notice of the council meeting within the time limits prescribed by the Expropriation Procedure Act.
The Supreme Court of Canada held that where a municipality exercises a statutory power to expropriate land, the statutory conditions for the exercise of that power must be strictly complied with.
The failure to properly serve the non-resident owner rendered the expropriation by-law void, not merely voidable, and beyond the reach of curative statutory provisions.
