The link #5 ... February 2002

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

Bijural Terminology Records

The Federal Law-Civil Law Harmonization Act, No.1 (c. 4 S.C. 2001) which came into force on June 1st, 2001, is the first in a series of Acts that will harmonize hundreds of federal statutes (and regulations). As mentioned in our previous newsletters, certain terms found in tax legislation have also been harmonized. Given the innovative character of bijural drafting, bijural terminology records have been published by the Department of Justice, as a guide to explain the harmonization provisions brought about by the Harmonization Act, No. 1 and Income Tax Act, 2000. Additional terminology records will be published as further harmonization changes are made.

Bill C-47

Bill C-47, An Act respecting the taxation of spirits, wine and tobacco and the treatment of ships' stores contains some harmonized expressions: "mortgages on real property or hypothecs on immovables / hypothèques sur des immeubles ou biens réels" and "jointly and severally or solidarily" (the underlined text has been added). C-47 received a first reading in the House of Commons on December 6th, 2001.

Articles on Canadian Bijuralism

Me Marie-Pierre Allard prepared a report on canadian bijuralism on the retroactive effects of civil law conditional obligations. She won the 2000-1 CTF Jean Potvin award for Quebec for the best student paper. Her report was recently published in the Canadian Tax Journal (vol 49, no 5) and the English version will be published in the next edition (no 6). Professor Charlaine Bouchard's research paper pertains to civil law and common law partnerships. Her paper was published in Laval University's "Les Cahiers de Droit" ([2001] 42 C. de D. 155-213). A first chronicle on harmonization was published in the APFF's Revue de planification fiscale et successorale (vol 22, no 3) and others will be published in upcoming months.