Section 285.1

Webb J. quashed the Minister's motion to dismiss the taxpayer's appeal from assessments under the Income Tax Act and Excise Tax Act, even though the taxpayer had failed to prosecute the appeals with due dispatch (he did not even appear at the hearing for this motion). Because the Minister was seeking to impose penalties under s. 163(2) of the ITA and s. 285 of the ETA, the burden remained with the Minister to prove that penalties were warranted. The taxpayer's inaction was not enough to support an inference that penalties were no longer in issue.