Crown
Real Property
Appeals from decisions of Federal Court (2007 FC 701, 2007 FC 702) quashing decisions of Montréal Port Authority (MPA), Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) (appellants) revising effective tax rate used by City of Montréal to determine amount in lieu of real property tax—Federal Court erred in accepting City’s argument terms “in the opinion of the Minister”, “that a corporation would consider”, “in the opinion of the corporation” found in Payments in Lieu of Taxes Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. M‑13, Crown Corporation Payments Regulations, SOR/81-1030, not granting Crown corporations any jurisdiction, discretion to interfere with amount of effective rate, effective value of federal property determined by assessing authority—Regulations, Part II dealing specifically with payments in lieu of business tax, applying only to corporations included in Act, Schedule IV—City unable to render provisions of Part II applicable to appellants, as appellants Schedule III corporations—As regards refusal to exclude effective value of silos from amount of payment in lieu of real property tax, Federal Court unduly restricting meanings of words “reservoir”, “storage tanks” by limiting meanings to receptacles for storing liquid, gaseous products—Silos, reservoirs, included in objects exempted under Act, Schedule II—Silos struck from application for payment in lieu of real property tax—Appeals allowed.
Montréal (City) v. Canada (Attorney General) (A-413-07, A-427-07, 2008 FCA 278, Létourneau J.A., judgment dated September 19, 2008, 54 pp.)