The City of Windsor is celebrating a minor victory after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the city's favour over the bridge company.
The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the appeal by the Canadian Transit Company over city property standard bylaws should be heard by the Superior Court of Justice.
Mayor Drew Dilkens says while this does not determine the fate of 114 boarded up homes it does decide the forum where the property standards bylaws will be argued.
"The Superior Court of Justice will be the proper authority for dealing with the property standard appeals by the CTC and we're certainly pleased that the Supreme Court agrees with us," says Dilkens.
The Canadian Transit Company argued that because they are a federal company, the city bylaws should not apply to them.
In the decision, Justice Abella said, “The result of diverting the course of the proceedings into a jurisdictional side-show is obvious – additional expense and delay in aid of nothing except avoiding a determination of the merits for as long as possible. To date, that jurisdictional diversion has cost the public a delay of three years. There is no basis for further delaying the Superior Court proceedings."
With the decision, the Supreme Court awarded costs to the city from the Canadian Bridge Company.
The case dealing with the merits of the orders will appear before the Superior Court some time in the next six months.
