Twin Mountain Construction Limited v. R., 2004 NSSC 101 (CanLII)

This case was heard in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.

Twin Mountain Construction Limited (“Twin Mountain”) was charged and convicted in Provincial Court of violating Nova Scotia’s Environment Act by operating a pit for the purpose of removing aggregate without having obtained the necessary approval.

Twin Mountain appealed to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, which held that the Provincial Court had erred in holding that the Crown had proved all elements of the offence. The evidence demonstrated that Twin Mountain had not been operating a pit for the purpose of removing aggregate—a farmer had hired the company to level a parcel of land and had agreed to let the company retain the aggregate that had to be removed in order for the land to be levelled. The Court held that Twin Mountain had not been operating a pit for the purpose of removing aggregate, and that the removal of aggregate had been incidental to the purpose of levelling the land. The Court therefore allowed the appeal and set aside the conviction.

View the Decision on CanLII: https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nssc/doc/2004/2004nssc101/2004nssc101.html

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