The link #3 ... September 2001

The tax team of the Civil Code Section of the Department of Justice of Canada is pleased to keep you posted on the most recent harmonization news.

Seminar on Harmonization and Bijuralism: October 3rd, 2001

The Department of Justice and l'Association de planification fiscale et financière (A.P.F.F.) have organized a seminar on the harmonization of federal tax legislation and Canadian bijuralism. This one-day event will be held on October 3rd in Montreal, concurrently to the first day of the A.P.F.F.'s annual Conference.

Enclosed is the French version of the program. The opening remarks will be made by the Honorable Justice Garon of the Tax Court of Canada. During the other morning sessions, the new interpretation rules as well as the differences between common law and civil law rules pertaining to property and trusts will be covered. The afternoon session will start with a review of recent developments in relation to harmonization. Thereafter, certain harmonization problems will be analyzed by learned professors and practitioners: concepts of employee and independent contractor, partnerships, legal and beneficial ownership, conditional obligations and trusts.

We hope to see you at the Seminar. A special price has been negotiated for students and government representatives. If you are part of these two groups and wish either to obtain further information or register, please contact us by email.

The St-Hilaire Case: English version now available

As mentioned in our previous newsletter, in the St-Hilaire case, the Honorable Justice Décary, dissenting in part, provides an analysis of the rules pertaining to the interaction between federal law (public or private) and provincial private law as well as the suppletive rules to be applied when federal legislation is silent, to which the other two justices concurred. Although the case deals with the federal Public Service Superannuation Act, the excerpts we have underlined (paragraphs 63 to 99) apply to the harmonization of tax legislation.