ConocoPhillips – Federal Court finds that CRA effectively has the discretion under s. 220(2.1) to indefinitely extend the period for filing a Notice of Objection

S. 220(2.1) provides that “where any provision of this Act… requires a person to file a… document…the Minister may waive the requirement, but the person shall provide the document…at the Minister’s request.” Boswell J has found that s. 220(2.1) accords the Minister the discretion to waive the requirement to file a Notice of Objection. Thus, it was improper for CRA to peremptorily reject (on the grounds that it had no power to do so) a ConocoPhillips request that CRA waive a requirement for it to object to a reassessment which ConocoPhillips found out about well after the deadline for getting an extension to object to it.

What does this mean? Boswell J indicated that if CRA waived the requirement for filing a Notice of Objection, it was then empowered by s. 220(2.1) to request the waived document (i.e., to request ConocoPhillips to file a Notice of Objection), so that the appeals process could get back on track – and noted that “should the Minister in this case unreasonably refuse to exercise her jurisdiction and authority to waive the requirement for a notice of objection, ConocoPhillips could then challenge that refusal by way of judicial review in this Court.”

Neal Armstrong. Summaries of ConocoPhillips Canada Resources Corp. v. M.N.R., 2016 FC 98 under s. 220(2.1) and Statutory Interpretation - French and English versions.