Daishowa - Supreme Court finds that assuming an obligation on a property is not consideration if the obligation is "embedded" in the property

The taxpayer held forest tenures, which under Alberta law were subject to reforestation obligations.  When the taxpayer sold the tenures and transferred the reforestation obligations, the Minister included the purchaser's assumption of those obligations in the taxpayer's proceeds of disposition - essentially treating the assumption of reforestation obligations in the same way as an assumption of a mortgage encumbrance.

The Supreme Court found that the reforestation obligations were embedded in the forest tenures, given that Alberta's statutory regime made it impossible to transfer the forest tenures without the reforestation obligations, or vice-versa.  Therefore, the reforestation obligations were an intrinsic factor that reduced the purchase value of the tenures rather than a "distinct existing liability" that a purchaser could assume as part of the consideration it paid - i.e. more like anticipated future repairs on a property rather than a mortgage encumbrance.

Scott Armstrong.  Summary of Daishowa-Marubeni International Ltd. v. The Queen, 2013 SCC 29, under s. 13(21).