Jacob Polowin

The applicants, developers in the City of Kingston, challenged the validity of the City's Impost By-law, which imposed fees for the capital costs of water and sewer infrastructure.

The applicants argued that the City was required to impose such fees under the Development Charges Act, 1997, and that the Impost By-law conflicted with that Act, was ultra vires the Municipal Act, 2001, and was discriminatory.

The court dismissed the application, finding that the legislative framework allowed the City to enact the Impost By-law under the Municipal Act, 2001, that there was no conflict with the Development Charges Act, 1997, and that the by-law was neither ultra vires nor discriminatory.

The applicants, representing taxi drivers and plate holders, sought to quash the City of Ottawa's 2016 Vehicle-for-Hire By-law, which created a separate regulatory regime for Private Transportation Companies (PTCs) like Uber.

The applicants argued the by-law was enacted in bad faith, granted an illegal bonus to PTCs, and was ultra vires.

The court dismissed the majority of the application, finding the City conducted extensive consultation, acted within its broad regulatory powers, and did not grant an undue advantage.

However, the court severed and quashed two specific provisions that were added to the by-law without notice to the stakeholders.

The applicants and respondents are neighbours who share a driveway.

The respondents built a fence down the middle of the driveway on their property line, preventing the applicants from accessing their rear parking spaces.

The applicants brought an application claiming a prescriptive easement over the respondents' portion of the driveway based on the doctrine of lost modern grant.

The court found that the applicants established 20 years of continuous, uninterrupted, open, and peaceful use of the driveway prior to the properties being registered in the land titles system.

The application was granted, and the respondents were ordered to remove the fence.