Words and Phrases - "association"

A fund established by the Labours International Union of North America, Local 527 and the Ottawa Construction Association (an employers' association) (the "OCA") in order to train union members and which was funded with a grant of $45,000 from the union's existing training and recreation fund, by government grants and by contributions by members of the OCA at a fixed rate per employee hour worked would have been found not to be a person (and therefore not to have standing) given that it was a non-charitable purpose trust, but for section 16 of the Perpetuities Act, which deemed the fund to be a valid trust.

The fund was an "association" (i.e., "a relationship between two or more persons for a common purpose") between the union and the OCA. The substantial accumulation of short-term investments by the fund in treasury bills and term deposits was explained by its inadequate facilities, by its inability to find adequate personnel to do training during the relevant periods, and by the high interest rates prevailing in those years. With respect to the opinion of the Minister, he could not use his failure to form an opinion as to whether the fund was a charity as a basis for denying the fund's claim.

Accordingly, the fund's exempt status was upheld.