Search - contravention

Thus, it is argued, there is no contravention of subsection 76(1) because that section makes it an offence to fail"to provide or produce information or a document as and when required by this Act” [emphasis added]. ... Writing for the Court, Schroeder, J.A. said at page 155 (C.C.C., D.T.C. 1288): It becomes apparent at once that s. 131(2) makes non-compliance with or a contravention of s. 126 an offence, but the offence is not stated to be the failure to comply with or contravention of a demand made by the Minister, and unless the statute clearly and expressly casts upon the taxpayer a duty or obligation to comply with a demand of the Minister made pursuant to subsection 126(2), such failure can hardly constitute an offence against the Act. ...

That section reads: Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Companies Act or the Business Corporations Act, every person who is shareholder of a corporation during the time that it is the holder of a permit or of a corporation during the time that it acts in contravention of subsection 93(1) is liable to the same extent and in the same manner as if the shareholders of the corporation were during that time carrying on the business of the corporation as a partnership or, if there is only one shareholder, as an individual practising as a barrister and solicitor. ...

Such a contravention may be an ingredient to be established in a charge under that section but to do so without more [evidence] falls far short of proving a charge of wilful evasion under that section. The contravention may or may not be wilful. It is clear that the entire offence is contained within the wording of paragraph 239(1)(d) and no provision is made for any exception to the offence so created. ...