A two-letter typo was just enough to make an zoning bylaw "nonsensical," an Ontario justice of the peace ruled..Blacklock's Reporter says the ruling means charges against scofflaws were dismissed..“You must be wondering if you could be convicted under a municipal bylaw containing wording that makes no sense,” wrote Richard Quon, justice of the peace in Caledon, Ont..The bylaw with the typographical error “in its present form is nonsensical,” he ruled..Three defendants were charged with breach of section 11.1 of the Town of Caledon zoning bylaw. The regulation posted on the town website states: “No personal shall within any environmental policy area zone use any land or erect, alter, enlarge, use or maintain any building or structure for any use other than as permitted” (emphasis added)..Quon wrote while it was possible “no personal” meant “no person” it was not the court’s job to correct the town’s mistakes..“Substituting the word ‘personal’ with the word ‘person,’ if that were indeed the intention of the council of the Town of Caledon for that provision, would in effect be rewriting or redrafting section 11.1 which would be properly the jurisdiction of the Town of Caledon to do,” he wrote..The right of courts to correct drafting errors was “legally uncertain,” said Quon, noting there was neither a certified paper copy of the bylaw nor transcription of any proceedings in which Caledon council explained what it had in mind..“It should be rightly left for the Town of Caledon to amend and correct their defective bylaw,” said the Court..“The legislative drafting error or mistake contained in section 11.1 will not be corrected by this court,” wrote Quon. .Three defendants were charged with breaches of the bylaw dating from 2020. .Evidence in the Caledon case included numerous precedents on treatment of typos in legislation. Parliament in 2013 had to rewrite an omnibus budget bill after an unidentified Toronto accountant spotted a garbled reference to “full rate taxable income” that effectively raised taxes on credit unions from 11% to 28%..The budget typo was not discovered until two months after the bill was signed into law. Parliament subsequently passed an Income Tax Act amendment that corrected the error.
