Words and Phrases - "loan corporation"

The appellant was a federal Crown corporation which lent money under the supervision of the federal Minister of Agricultures and for the Canadian Wheat Board to farmers across Canada and businesses serving them. It was not registered or licensed to carry on business as a loan corporation under the relevant provincial trust and loan corporation legislation. It clearly was a selected listed financial institution (“SLFI”) given, inter alia, that its principal business was acknowledged to be lending money. However, for its reporting period in question, the Selected Listed Financial Institution Attribution Method (GST/HST) Regulations would have produced a more favourable result if it were considered to not be a “loan corporation.”

In finding that the appellant was a “loan corporation,” D'Arcy J stated (at paras. 117, 120-1, 135):

The Appellant places significant weight on the fact that the provincial legislation that regulates trust and loan corporations defines a “loan corporation” as being a corporation that is incorporated for the purpose of borrowing money from the public and then lending or investing such money.

A literal interpretation of the words loan corporation is that they mean a corporation that makes loans. …

[A] contextual and purposive analysis…leads to the conclusion that the words “loan corporation” as used in the Attribution Regulations…mean a corporation whose principal business is the making of loans….

There are no provisions in the GST Act that state that a listed financial institution whose principal business is the lending of money is only a “loan corporation” for the purposes of the Attribution Regulations if it accepts deposits from the public. In my view, if Parliament had intended such a result it would have added that specific condition to the legislation. …