LPIC – Tax Court of Canada finds that LPIC is not exempt under s. 149(1)(d.5) because its owner (the Law Society) merely regulates lawyers rather than governing Ontarians

Whether LPIC, which was a subsidiary of the Law Society of Upper Canada, qualified as a tax exempt, turned on whether the Law Society satisfied the condition in s. 149(1)(d.5) of being a “public body performing a function of government in Canada.”

The Law Society got through the first part of the quoted phrase because it satisfied the “three-part English test” for being a “public body,” which was that “the entity must have a duty to the public, it must be subject to a significant degree of government control and it must not use any of its profit for the personal benefit of its members.” However, it failed the “function of government” test. D’Arcy J stated:

The Law Society performs its various functions in the course of regulating the legal profession, not in the course of governing people located in Ontario.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Lawyers' Professional Indemnity Company v. The Queen, 2018 TCC 194 under s. 149(1)(d.5).