Latest news with #B.C. Supreme Court
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
B.C. court squelches Vancouver bylaw that forced ride-hailing firms to pay fees
VANCOUVER — The B.C. Supreme Court has invalidated a bylaw passed by the City of Vancouver that imposed a fee on ride-hailing companies working on city streets during peak hours. Uber Canada took the city to court over the bylaw, claiming it overstepped a municipal government's power to regulate so-called "transportation network services." The bylaw prevented ride-share vehicles from picking up or dropping off passengers in the "Metro Vancouver core" between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. unless they had a "congestion and curbside management permit." The provincial government made the Passenger Transportation Board the "centralized authority" to regulate ride-hailing in 2019, but the city later imposed the bylaw, which Uber challenged in B.C. Supreme Court. The court decision says the province made the changes to eliminate regulatory overlap, which the transportation minister at the time said had 'plagued the passenger directed vehicle industry for years." The ruling says there is no "rational pathway" for the city to claim it didn't intend to regulate the number of ride sharing vehicles operating in Vancouver with the bylaw because its stated intention was to reduce traffic congestion. "Given the specifics of this particular bylaw, it is unreasonable for the city to decide it was authorized to invoke its powers to regulate stopping on city streets to defeat the purpose and text of its governing legislation," the ruling says. "Therefore, the bylaw is invalid and the decision to adopt it was unreasonable." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2025. Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press
CTV News
6 days ago
- CTV News
Chilliwack, B.C., man found not criminally responsible for wife's stabbing death
The Law Courts building, which is home to B.C. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, is seen in Vancouver, on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2023. (Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press) CHILLIWACK — The B.C. Supreme Court says a Chilliwack, B.C., man who stabbed his wife to death in 2024 was suffering from a 'delusional belief' when the violent killing occurred, finding him not criminally responsible for her murder. The court ruling posted online Wednesday says Joseph Berkiw, now 70, killed his wife, who can't be named under a publication ban, while believing he was 'saving her' from being tortured or raped by people who were targeting the couple. It says Berkiw worked as a machinist and had become 'preoccupied' with concerns about not getting paid from his job, and began acting in unusual and paranoid ways in the lead-up to the killing. The ruling says the couple lived with their adult son, who had called police over his father's 'bizarre behaviour' on Jan. 8 and Jan. 12, 2024, but officers determined he didn't meet the criteria to be apprehended 'under the Mental Health Act because nobody indicated he presented an immediate risk to himself or anyone else.' The court ruling says Berkiw attacked his wife with a knife on Jan. 17, stabbing her before being taken to the ground by his son, and she called police in 'extreme distress,' telling the call-taker that her husband was mentally ill and 'trying to kill everybody.' The ruling says Berkiw broke free of his son's grasp and got another knife, slashing his wife's throat and cutting his son, who had tried to protect her, and the court found he was suffering from a mental disorder that included 'delusional beliefs' that rendered him 'incapable of knowing that his actions were morally wrong.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 6, 2025
