David Jacyk

The debtor company commenced CCAA proceedings and obtained a stay.

It owed unremitted GST to the Crown.

The ETA creates a deemed trust for unremitted GST, but the CCAA nullifies statutory deemed trusts in favour of the Crown.

The chambers judge ordered the GST funds segregated in the Monitor's trust account.

When reorganization failed, the debtor sought to make an assignment in bankruptcy.

The Crown sought immediate payment of the GST funds.

The Supreme Court held that the CCAA rule prevails, meaning the Crown ranks as an unsecured creditor for GST claims during CCAA proceedings.

The Court also held that the chambers judge had the discretion to partially lift the stay to allow the assignment in bankruptcy, and that no express trust was created by segregating the funds.

The appellant, acting as a licensed customs broker, overpaid $2,937,123 in GST due to errors.

The appellant did not collect the overpayments from its customers but deducted the amounts from its own GST liability.

The Minister of National Revenue disallowed these deductions.

The Supreme Court of Canada held that the appellant was entitled to a rebate under s. 261(1) of the Excise Tax Act because it was the person who actually paid the amount in error, and the Minister was obliged to apply the rebate against the appellant's net tax pursuant to s. 296(2.1).

The appellant, an amateur youth soccer association operating exclusively in Ontario, applied to be registered as a charity under the Income Tax Act.

The Canada Revenue Agency denied the application on the basis that promoting sport is not a charitable purpose at common law.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, holding that while the specific statutory provisions for national amateur athletic associations do not preclude other sports organizations from charitable status, the promotion of sport itself is not recognized as a charitable purpose under the common law.

The Court concluded that expanding the definition of charity to include amateur sports is a matter for Parliament, not the courts.