Supreme Court grants leave in Alta Energy

Alta Energy rejected what essentially was a Crown position that Treaty-shopping (here, transferring an investment in a Canadian resource company to a Lux holding company followed by a sale, two years later, that was Treaty-exempt) was a GAAR abuse – with Webb JA saying, for instance that there “is no distinction in the Luxembourg Convention between residents with strong economic or commercial ties and those with weak or no commercial or economic ties,” and that “the object, spirit and purpose of the relevant provisions of the Luxembourg Convention is reflected in the words as chosen by Canada and Luxembourg.”

The Supreme Court will be hearing the Crown’s appeal.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Canada v. Alta Energy Luxembourg S.A.R.L., 2020 FCA 43, leave granted 6 August 2020 under s. 245(4).