Words and Phrases - "vegetables"

In finding that sales by the taxpayer of salted peanuts and cashew nuts were not exempted from sales tax under the Excise Tax Act as sales of “vegetables” or “fruit” Cameron J, after referring to the botanical expert evidence that they were both, stated

when in Canada the words “fruit” and “vegetables” are used, their obvious and popular meaning would not include “nuts” of any sort

and went on to state:

It is of considerable interest, also, to note that in the tariff rates under The Customs Act (which, as a revenue Act, I consider to be in pari materia), separate items are set up for fruits, for vegetables, and also for “nuts of all kinds, not otherwise provided, including shelled peanuts”. This would seem to indicate that in the minds of the legislators, nuts were not included in the categories of fruits or vegetables, and also that peanuts fell within the category of nuts.