The Tax Law Team of the Bijuralism & Drafting Support Services Group of the Department of Justice of Canada is pleased to keep you posted on the most recent harmonization news.

David Duff's Presentation in Ottawa: On July 3 and 4, 2003, professor David Duff of Osgood Hall (University of Toronto) will be presenting his paper entitled The Federal Income Tax Act and Private Law in Canada: Complementarity, Dissociation, and Canadian Bijuralism to a number of Federal government representatives.  His paper deals with the impact  of provincial laws on the interpretation and application of Canadian federal statutes.  Professor Duff analyzes the interaction between federal and provincial legislation  both from the perspective of the civil law of Quebec and the common law of the other Canadian provinces with a particular emphasis on Ontario.  He studied over 50 years of jurisprudence and demonstrated that, where federal legislation is silent or incomplete, provincial law comes into play to complete and give meaning to federal legislation. Professor Duff also studied the anticipated impact of the new interpretation rules in 8.1 and 8.2 of the Interpretation Act on tax legislation. 

Research Paper on Canadian Bijuralism: Josée Vigeant produced a preliminary report entitled La prescription des dettes fiscales : tout se joue avec 6 ans! (French only).  In this preliminary report, she analyses the Markevich decision as well as the limitation periods that apply to the collection of federal tax debts and the interruption and suspension of limitation periods.  She will produce her final report in the weeks to come.  The preliminary report, and eventually the final report, are available to all who are interested in reviewing them and providing us with feedback.

Program for Research Contracts on Canadian Bijuralism: The 5th edition of the Program will soon be launched.  We adjusted the terms and conditions of the Program in light of the comments received from the students and professors : the expected length of the research proposals will be shorter and applications can now be submitted at any time during the school year.  The new terms and conditions of the 5th edition of the Program will be available on Department of Justice website starting August 15, 2003.