Date: 19990527
Docket: A-780-95
CORAM: MARCEAU J.A.
DESJARDINS J.A.
NOËL J.A.
BETWEEN:
GÉRARD LANGLOIS
Appellant
- and -
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN
Respondent
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
(Delivered from the bench at Québec, Quebec,
on Thursday, May 27, 1999)
MARCEAU J.A.
[1] It was agreed at the outset of the hearing that if the Court reached the conclusion that the constitutional challenge mounted by the appeal raised serious questions, the matter would be adjourned to allow for full compliance with the mandatory provisions of section 57 of the Federal Court Act, as this Court could not give effect to a request of this nature without special notice of the proceedings first having been served on the attorney general of each province. However, if the Court were unable to find some substance to the appellant"s argument, it would naturally have to dismiss the appeal outright.
[2] We allowed the appellant to say everything he wished to say, and took care to analyse his written representations and consult the authorities to which he claimed to refer. Our conviction remained the same, because the appellant, though eloquent, failed to convince us that his arguments were not solely based on misapprehension and misperception of the law.
[3] Time and again, Parliament has been recognized as having general jurisdiction over direct taxation and, particularly, as having full authority over income tax. The taxation of Canadians" incomes, introduced in 1917 in time of war, was expressly kept in force at the end of the war as a permanent element of the federal fiscal structure, and the initial enactment was replaced in 1948 by the Income Tax Act , the product of a power that stems directly from the Constitution and by no means from a full or partial delegation by the provinces.
[4] There is no merit to the claims of constitutional invalidity on which the appellant based his challenge to the Tax Court of Canada judgment.
[5] Therefore, his appeal must be dismissed, with"as the general rule provides"costs.
Louis Marceau
J.A.
Certified true translation
Peter Douglas
Date: 19990527
Docket: A-780-95
CORAM: MARCEAU J.A.
DESJARDINS J.A.
NOËL J.A.
BETWEEN:
GÉRARD LANGLOIS
Appellant
- and -
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN
Respondent
Hearing held at Québec, Quebec, on Thursday, May 27, 1999.
Judgment delivered from the bench on Thursday, May 27, 1999.
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT OF THE COURT BY: MARCEAU J.A.
IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF APPEAL
Date: 19990527
Docket: A-780-95
BETWEEN:
GÉRARD LANGLOIS
Appellant
- and -
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN
Respondent
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
OF THE COURT
FEDERAL COURT OF APPEAL
NAMES OF COUNSEL AND SOLICITORS OF RECORD
COURT FILE NO.: A-780-95
STYLE OF CAUSE: Gérard Langlois v.
Her Majesty the Queen
PLACE OF HEARING: Québec, Quebec
DATE OF HEARING: May 27, 1999
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT OF THE COURT BY: The Honourable Marceau J.A.
REASONS DATED: May 27, 1999
APPEARANCES:
Gérard Langlois for the appellant
Roger Roy for the respondent
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Gérard Langlois (himself) for the appellant
Morris Rosenberg for the respondent
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario