The respondents sought to expand their hog farming operation and obtained provincial approval for a nutrient management plan, which required a 100-metre setback from a municipal well.
The appellant municipality had passed a zoning by-law prohibiting intensive livestock operations within a larger two-year capture zone to protect groundwater.
The municipality argued the by-law enhanced provincial standards, while the respondents argued the provincial regulation superseded the by-law under s. 61 of the Nutrient Management Act.
The Court of Appeal held that s. 61 displaced the common law 'impossibility of dual compliance' test.
The Court found that both the regulation and the by-law addressed the same subject matter—the regulation of livestock operations and nutrient management—rendering the municipal by-law inoperative.
The appeal was dismissed.
