Search - connection

That section provides: 231. (1) Any person thereunto authorized by the Minister, for any purpose related to the administration or enforcement of this Act, may, at all reasonable times, enter into any premises or place where any business is carried on or any property is kept or anything is done in connection with any business or any books or records are or should be kept, and (d) if, during the course of an audit or examination, it appears to him that there has been a violation of this Act or a regulation, seize and take away any of the documents, books, records, papers or things that may be required as evidence as to the violation of any provision of this Act or a regulation. ... The relevant portions of section 231 provide as follows: 231. (1) Any person thereunto authorized by the Minister, for any purpose related to the administration or enforcement of this Act, may, at all reasonable times, enter into any premises or place where any business is carried on or any property is kept or anything is done in connection with any business or any books or records are or should be kept, and (d) if, during the course of an audit or examination, it appears to him that there has been a violation of this Act or a regulation, seize and take away any of the documents, books, records, papers or things that may be required as evidence as to the violation of any provision of this Act or a regulation. (2) The Minister shall (a) within 120 days from the date of seizure of any documents, books, records, papers or things pursuant to paragraph (1)(d), or (b) if within that time an application is made under this subsection that is, after the expiration of that time, rejected, then forthwith upon the disposition of the application, return the documents, books, records, papers or things to the person from whom they were seized unless a judge of a superior court or county court, on application made by or on behalf of the Minister, supported by evidence on oath establishing that the Minister has reasonable and probable grounds to believe that there has been a violation of this Act or a regulation and that the seized documents, books, records, papers or things are or may be required as evidence in relation thereto, orders that they be retained by the Minister until they are produced in any court proceedings, which order the judge is hereby empowered to give on ex parte application. ...

In 1933 the addition of what is now s. 8(1) (d) provided in effect for the assessment of every person carrying on the business of selling or disributing goods to a chain of more than five retail stores or shops directly or indirectly owned, controlled or operated by him ‘‘for a sum equal to 75% of the assessed value of the land occupied or used by him in such business for a distribution premises, storage or warehouse for such goods, wares and merchandise, or for an office used in connection with the said business. ’ There was a higher rate of assessment for business tax imposed upon that part of the land and buildings used in the Loblaw Co’s business for a special purpose. ...

Paragraphs 231(1)(a) and (d) (to which subsection 231(2) relates) and subsection 231(2) read: (1) Any person thereunto authorized by the Minister, for any purpose related to the administration or enforcement of this Act, may, at all reasonable times, enter into any premises or place where any business is carried on or any property is kept or anything is done in connection with any business or any books or records are or should be kept, and (a) audit or examine the books and records and any account, voucher, letter, telegram or other document which relates or may relate to the information that is or should be in the books or records or the amount of tax payable under this Act, (d) if, during the course of an audit or examination, it appears to him that there has been a violation of this Act or a regulation, seize and take away any of the documents, books, records, papers or things that may be required as evidence as to the violation of any provision of this Act or a regulation. (2) The Minister shall, (a) within 120 days from the date of seizure of any documents, books, records, papers or things pursuant to paragraph (1)(d), or (b) if within that time an application is made under this subsection that is, after the expiration of that time, rejected, then forthwith upon the disposition of the application, return the documents, books, records, papers or things to the person from whom they were seized unless a judge of a superior court or county court, on application made by or on behalf of the Minister, supported by evidence on oath establishing that the Minister had reasonable and probable grounds to believe that there has been a violation of this Act or a regulation and that the seized documents, books, records, papers or things are or may be required as evidence in relation thereto, orders that they be retained by the Miniser until they are produced in any court proceedings, which order the judge is hereby empowered to give on ex parte application. ... However, accepting this, I do not see how it can be “established” before the judge that there are reasonable and probable grounds for the Minister’s belief unless the evidence on oath furnishes some facts as to the nature of the seized documents and their connection with the violation in question—rather than insulating such facts from the judge’s consideration under statements as to the depondent’s opinion. ...

This has been discussed recently in connection with a "wire-tap" authorized by the Supreme Court of Canada in Wilson v. ...

Miller, 22 D.L.R. 75, [1915] A.C. 318, in connection with the law as to the registration of titles in the Province of British Columbia, and came to the conclusion that though the purchaser of real estate might, before conveyance, have an equitable interest capable of registration, such interest was in every case commensurate only with what would be decreed to him by a Court of equity in specifically performing the contract, and could only be defined by reference to the relief which the Court would give by way of specific performance.” ...

Where, as here, it is urged that a literal construction must be placed on general words conferring such extraordinarily wide and sweeping powers upon a Minister or lower government official, powers which in peacetime are wholly unprecedented, it is right and proper not only to look at the terms of Section 126(2) (b) upon which the alleged authority is founded, but at any other provision found in connection therewith and which may throw light upon it, to see if they afford some indication that those general words were not intended to be applied without some reasonable limitation. ... It would require very plain words in the Act to persuade me that the Legislature intended to impose such a corvée, and that too not upon the landowners who are taxed, but upon third persons who have nothing but an official or business connection with the land.” ... It is important to note carefully what Lord Macmillan had to say in this connection at page 251: “But in a time of emergency when the life of the whole nation is at stake it may well be that a regulation for the defence of the realm may quite properly have a meaning which because of its drastic invasion of the liberty of the subject the courts would be slow to attribute to a peace time measure. ...

MacKay, DJ, in dissent, held, emphasizing “any” in “any provision,” that there was no necessary connection between the two violations. ...

Saguenay Terminals Ltd. is a Quebec company which also was in existence before appellant had any connection with it. ...

—Any person thereunto authorized by the Minister, for any purpose related to the administration or enforcement of this Act, may, at all reasonable times, enter into any premises or place where any business is carried on or any property is kept or anything is done in connection with any business or any books or records are or should be kept, and (a) audit or examine the books and records and any account, voucher, letters, telegram or other document which relates or may relate to the information that is or should be in the books or records or the amount of tax payable under this Act, (b) examine property described by an inventory or any property, process or matter an examination of which may, in his opinion, assist him in determining the accuracy of an inventory or in ascertaining the information that is or should be in the books or records or the amount of any tax payable under this Act, (c) require the owner or manager of the property or business and any other person on the premises or place to give him all reasonable assistance with his audit or examination and to answer all proper questions relating to the audit or examination either orally or, if he so requires, in writing, on oath or by statutory declaration and, for that purpose, require the owner or manager to attend at the premises or place with him, and (d) if, during the course of an audit or examination, it appears to him that there has been a violation of this Act or a regulation, seize and take away any of the documents, books, records, papers or things that may be required as evidence as to the violation of any provision of this Act or a regulation. (2) Return of documents, books, etc. ...

Attorney General for Canada (unreported, released 29, November 1986) to hold that someone who was a member of an allied force at a time when he had no connection with Canada, even though he subsequently became a citizen, is not "similarly situated” to someone who was domiciled in Canada when he joined an allied force for the purpose of the war. ...