The plaintiff tripped and fell on a city-owned sidewalk, sustaining serious injuries.
She alleged the municipality failed to keep the sidewalk in a reasonable state of repair.
The municipality argued the surface discontinuity did not exceed the two-centimetre threshold requiring repair under the Minimum Maintenance Standards.
Furthermore, the municipality argued its failure to conduct an annual inspection was due to the COVID-19 state of emergency and constituted a core policy decision.
The court dismissed the action, finding the plaintiff failed to prove the defect exceeded two centimetres.
In the alternative, the court held the municipality's decision to suspend sidewalk inspections during the pandemic was a core policy decision immune from liability, and the municipality established a statutory defence as it could not reasonably have known of the defect.
