October 07, 2011

Her Majesty the Queen (Appellant) v. Global Communications Limited (Respondent)

97 DTC 5196
Federal Court of Appeal
March 19, 1997

(Court Files Nos. A-147-97, A-178-97 and A-205-97.)

Appeal procedure — In course of corporate taxpayer’s appeal to Tax Court of Canada, that Court making three orders — Crown appealing such orders to Federal Court of Appeal — Whether Crown entitled to order staying said three orders of the Tax Court pending outcome of its appeal therefrom — Income Tax Act, R.S.C. 1985 (5th Supp.), c. 1, as amended, s. 169.

During the course of the corporate taxpayer’s appeal to the Tax Court of Canada, that court made three orders. In the first, which was dated February 24, 1997, the Crown was refused leave to amend its Reply to the Notice of Appeal. In the second, which was dated March 6, 1997, the Crown’s application to adjourn the trial (which had been set for April 14, 1997) was dismissed. And in the third, which was dated March 11, 1976, the Crown’s application to stay the earlier order fixing the trial for April 14, 1997 was denied. The Crown appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal from all three Orders of the Tax Court of Canada. During the course of its appeal, the Crown moved for an Order staying the Orders, pending the outcome of its appeal.

Held: The Crown’s motion was dismissed, forcing the Crown to proceed to trial in the Tax Court of Canada on April 14, 1997. The Crown’s argument that it would suffer irreparable harm if forced to go to trial as scheduled was utterly without merit. The Crown had done nothing to bring its appeal on the amendment question into a state of readiness for hearing prior to April 14, 1997. That having been said, however, the Crown’s three appeals from the three Orders of the Tax Court in issue were fixed for hearing (by the Federal Court of Appeal) on April 7, 1997 on a priority basis.