Stone
J.A.:
This
is
an
application
to
review
and
set
aside
a
judgment
of
the
Tax
Court
of
Canada
by
which
it
was
determined
that
legal
expenses
that
were
laid
out
by
the
applicant
to
challenge
by
way
of
legal
proceedings
the
outcome
of
a
competition
in
the
public
service
of
Nova
Scotia
as
a
result
of
which
another
position
with
the
same
employer
was
awarded
to
a
third
party,
were
not
deductible
under
paragraph
8(l)(b)
of
the
Income
Tax
Act,
which
reads:
8.
(1)
In
computing
a
taxpayer’s
income
for
a
taxation
year
from
an
office
or
employment,
there
may
be
deducted
such
of
the
following
amounts
as
are
wholly
applicable
to
that
source
or
such
part
of
the
following
amounts
or
may
reasonably
be
regarded
as
applicable
thereto:
(b)
amounts
paid
by
the
taxpayer
in
the
year
as
or
on
account
of
legal
expenses
incurred
by
the
taxpayer
to
collect
or
establish
a
right
to
salary
or
wages
owed
to
the
taxpayer
by
the
employer
or
former
employer
of
the
taxpayer.
[Emphasis
added]
In
deciding
as
he
did,
the
learned
Tax
Court
Judge
stated,
at
page
7:
This
Court
has
some
difficulty
in
concluding
that
a
person
is
“owed”
a
salary
or
“wages”
if
he
did
not
do
the
work
or
occupy
the
position
that
required
the
salary
or
wages
to
be
paid.
Further
it
has
difficulty
in
concluding
that
a
person
could
be
found
to
have
incurred
legal
expenses
to
establish
a
right
to
salary
or
wages
when
two
Courts
of
competent
jurisdiction
actually
found
that
the
appellant
did
not
have
the
“right”
that
she
was
seeking
to
explore
by
the
legal
action.
In
our
view
it
has
not
been
demonstrated
that
in
disposing
of
the
matter
as
he
did
the
Tax
Court
Judge
erred
in
any
way
that
would
warrant
the
intervention
of
this
Court.
This
is
not
a
case
where
legal
expenses
were
incurred
“to
establish
a
right
to
salary
or
wages
owed
to
the
taxpayer
by
the
employer
or
former
employer
of
the
taxpayer”
within
the
meaning
of
paragraph
8
(1)(b).
Although
the
result
may
appear
to
be
unfortunate
for
the
applicant,
it
is
nevertheless
the
one
that,
in
our
view,
is
compelled
by
the
Statute.
The
section
28
application
will
be
dismissed.
Application
dismissed.
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