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Old Posted Aug 14, 2015, 4:46 PM
jthetzel jthetzel is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: St. John's, NL
Posts: 178
Quote:
Originally Posted by J_Murphy View Post
Am I missing something here? Doesn't CBS have a municipal enforcement that enforce by-laws? They are a town, why can't Paradise do the same?
Let me know if I'm way off base here...

Shorter version: Municipalities have limited power to enact regulations, cities have broader power. This broader power is probably what Mr. Hussey refers to when he mentions by-laws, but to my eye the term "regulation" and "by-law" are often used interchangeably in the province (all the regulations listed on the St. John's website are actually by-laws http://www.stjohns.ca/city-hall/abou...nd-regulations ). Paradise likely has similar power to enact and enforce regulations as CBS. If they don't have municipal enforcement officers, it's probably because they don't want to pay for them

Longer version: Municipalities are delegated limited power to self-regulate. Nearly all municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador are controlled by the Municipalities Act of 1999 ( http://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislatio...atutes/m24.htm ). Three municipalities are controlled by separate acts: the City of St. John's Act ( http://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislatio...atutes/c17.htm ), the City of Mount Pearl Act ( http://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislatio...atutes/c16.htm ), and the City of Corner Brook Act ( http://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislatio...atutes/c15.htm ).

The City of St. John's Act §29, in summary, broadly gives Council the power to make rules, regulations, and by-laws for the purpose performing its duties. Such broad language is not found in the Municipalities Act. Instead, the Municipalities Act specifies narrow areas for Council's self-regulation (e.g. Municipalities Act §202 for business improvement area regulation and §414 for various municipal service regulation). However, just because a municipality is granted city status does not mean it enjoys the broad autonomy of St. John's. Glossing over the Corner Brook and Mount Pearl Acts, the delegated powers seem more limited than St. John's (no broad mention of power to make by-laws).

Also, the legal difference between a "by-law" and a "regulation" escapes me. I think of by-laws as being broader in scope and regulations narrower in scope, but both are still municipal self-regulation delegated by the provincial government.
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