The applicants challenged a City of Toronto by-law imposing an annual tax on third-party signs, arguing it was an ultra vires indirect tax, discriminatory, and that existing signs were grandfathered under the City of Toronto Act.
The application judge upheld the by-law but found existing signs were grandfathered and granted a sealing order over the applicants' financial information.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the applicants' appeals, finding the tax was direct and not discriminatory.
The Court allowed the City's cross-appeal, holding that the grandfathering provision applies only to regulatory by-laws, not taxing by-laws, and that the sealing order was unjustified under the Dagenais/Mentuck test.
