Gastrebski v. The Queen, 94 DTC 6355 (FCA)

The taxpayer, who was hospitalized and treated as an out-patient for severe depression until March 1973 and then returned to work until 1983, when he stopped work because of his disability, was not grandfathered. Linden J.A. found (p. 6359) that "the 'event' that must occur before 1974 is the actual disability which prevents someone from working at full capacity, resulting in a loss of employment income as a consequence of that disability ... . [T]he reoccurrence of a pre-1974 disability after a period during which the taxpayer was not incapacitated is no different than if the first incapacity appeared after 1974."

Linden J.A. found it inadvisable to limit the meaning of the word "event" in s. 19(1) of the Income Tax Application Rules to sudden or trumatic occurrences in the nature of accidents, in light of s. 12 of the Interpretation Act.

In finding that the standard for review by the Court of Appeal was the same for appeals from informal Tax Court decisions as for appeals from the formal procedure (i.e., a standard of correctness) Linden J.A. stated (pp. 6357):

"The legal issues involved in both situations of review are the same, the decision-making body being appealed from is the same and the supervising Court is the same ... . The legislation being interpreted in these cases is tax legislation, where consistency is particularly necessary."