Case Commented On: The RRSP Trust of James T. Grenon by its Trustee CIBC Trust Corporation v. Her Majesty the Queen, 2025 FCA 129 (CanLII)
PDF Version: A Mugging on Bay Street
Most corporate lawyers avoid reading tax court decisions. Tax is a pretty specialized practice area, and for non-specialists the entire area of tax law gives off the insalubrious air of a dark alley in an unfamiliar city. Except worse, because in a tax case you know for a fact there is someone down that alley who wants to rob you of your money.
Corporate lawyers should make an exception, however, for the recent decision in The RRSP Trust of James T. Grenon by its Trustee CIBC Trust Corporation v. Her Majesty the Queen (Grenon) by the Federal Court of Appeal. This is because the court finds itself interpreting provincial securities laws in a way that would be very surprising to most non-tax lawyers. In fact, the way the court (i) interprets the term “principal” (found in many private placement exemptions), (ii) the consequences that it suggests follow from imprecise investor representations in subscription agreements, and (iii) the way the court determines what constitutes a “lawful” offering under RRSP rules, all violate long-established securities practice and threaten to destabilize private placements of all kinds.