Words and Phrases - "in satisfaction of"

Lump-sum damages received by the non-resident taxpayer from Canadian residents for the repudiation, prior to the slated operational commencement date, of a bare-boat charter of a drilling rig owned by its parent, were found to be payments received in lieu of the payment of rent, so that it was not entitled to a refund of Part XIII tax withheld. After noting (at para. 45) that "rent is defined as an amount paid as compensation for the use or occupation of property, or for the right to use or occupy property", and that the references to payments made "on account of" such compensation or "in satisfaction of" such compensation would "appear to cover virtually all situations in which a payment is made to discharge, in full or in part, an obligation to pay compensation to a non-resident for the past or current use, in Canada, of property", Sharlow J.A. went on to state (at paras. 47-48):

The ordinary meaning of the phrase 'in lieu of', according to a number of dictionaries, is 'instead of' or 'in place of' ... . It seems axiomatic that an amount that is paid instead of a payment of a particular legal character, or in the place of such a payment, does not have the same legal character ... "If the phrase 'in lieu of rent' is interpreted to include only payments made as compensation for the past or current use of property, which essentially the position of counsel for Transocean, it would add nothing to paragraph 212(1)(d) ... .

Puder v. MNR, 63 DTC 1282 (Ex Ct) imposed "an unjustifiably narrow meaning on the phrase 'in lieu of'" as it failed to recognize that "a thing may take the place of another thing if it...performs a function that is not exactly the same but is a reasonable substitute" (para. 60).