MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. v. British Columbia, (1995) 63 B.C.A.C. 302 (CA)

• Judge: Legg, Wood and Donald, JJ.A.
• Court: Court of Appeal (British Columbia)
• Case Date: September 15, 1995
• Jurisdiction: British Columbia
• Citations: (1995), 63 B.C.A.C. 302 (CA)

MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. v. B.C. (1995), 63 B.C.A.C. 302 (CA);

    104 W.A.C. 302

MLB headnote and full text

MacMillan Bloedel Limited (petitioner/appellant) v. Her Majesty The Queen in right of the Province of British Columbia (respondent/respondent)

(CA018671)

Her Majesty The Queen in right of the Province of British Columbia (petitioner/respondent) v. MacMillan Bloedel Limited (respondent/appellant)

(CA019105)

Indexed As: MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. v. British Columbia

British Columbia Court of Appeal

Legg, Wood and Donald, JJ.A.

September 15, 1995.

Summary:

The Minister of Forests expropriated Mac­Millan's timber licence. MacMillan brought arbitration proceedings pursuant to s. 53(6) of the Forest Act respecting the amount of compensation to which it was entitled. The British Columbia Supreme Court allowed an appeal from the arbitration board's award and remitted the matter to the board with directions. MacMillan appealed.

The British Columbia Court of Appeal allowed the appeal in part.

Expropriation - Topic 1160

Measure of compensation - Special inter­ests - Timber licences - The British Col­umbia Court of Appeal held that in deter­mining the compensation for an expropri­ated timber licence under s. 53 of the Forest Act, an arbitration board was cor­rect in basing the market value upon a discounted cash flow with a deduction for income tax - See paragraphs 16 to 53 - However, a Chambers judge erred in inter­preting the terminal loss rules of the Income Tax Act to timber resource prop­erties and the board was correct in apply­ing the terminal loss provisions in the final year of the harvesting schedule - See paragraphs 54 to 76 - Section 53(3)(b) required a further deduction of five percent from the compensation awarded by the board - The court set out the meaning of the section - See paragraphs 77 to 83.

Cases Noticed:

Pastoral Finance Association Ltd. v. The Minister, [1914] A.C. 1083 (P.C.), consd. [para. 25].

Irving Oil Co. v. R., [1946] 4 D.L.R. 625 (S.C.C.), refd to. [para. 27].

Diggon-Hibben v. R., [1949] 4 D.L.R. 785 (S.C.C.), refd to. [para. 27].

Woods Manufacturing Co. v. R., [1951] 2 D.L.R. 465 (S.C.C.), refd to. [para. 27].

Gagetown Lumber Co. v. R., [1957] 1 S.C.R. 44, consd. [para. 27].

Florence Realty Co. v. R. (1967), 65 D.L.R.(2d) 136 (S.C.C.), refd to. [para. 27].

Kettle River Sawmills Ltd. v. Minister of National Revenue (1992), 56 F.T.R. 191 (T.D.), refd to. [para. 41].

City Parking Ltd. v. Toronto (City) (1980), 20 L.C.R. 159; 110 D.L.R.(3d) 73 (Ont. Div. Ct.), refd to. [para. 43].

E & M Enterprises Ltd. v. Minister of Transportation (N.B.) (1979), 27 N.B.R.(2d) 200; 60 A.P.R. 200; 18 L.C.R. 273 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 43].

Stoke-on-Trent City Council v. Wood Mitchell & Co., [1979] 2 All E.R. 65 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 43].

Blue Haven Motel Ltd. v. Burnaby (1966), 52 D.L.R.(2d) 464 (B.C.C.A.), refd to. [para. 80].

Statutes Noticed:

Expropriation Act, S.B.C. 1987, c. 23, sect. 30 [para. 16].

Forest Act, R.S.B.C. 1979, c. 140, sect. 1(5), sect. 1(6) [para. 16]; sect. 53 [para. 1]; sect. 53(1)(c) [para. 3]; sect. 53(3) [para. 7]; sect. 53(3)(b) [para. 3].

Income Tax Act, S.C. 1970-71-72, c. 63, sect. 13(1) [para. 49]; sect. 13(21)(d.1) [para. 41]; sect. 13(21)(f)(v) [para. 49]; sect. 20(16) [para. 61].

Income Tax Act Regulations, Schedule II, class 33 [para. 54]; sect. 1100(1)(a)(xxiv) [para. 69].

Authors and Works Noticed:

Clyne, J.V., Clyne Report (1961), generally [paras. 22, 23].

Maxwell, Interpretation of Statutes (12th Ed. 1969), p. 25-2 [para. 80].

Counsel:

Douglas G.S. Rae and Holly A. Brinton, for the appellant;

C. Edward Hanman and L.J. Alexander, for the respondent.

This appeal was heard in Vancouver, British Columbia, on April 10 to 12, 1995, before Legg, Wood and Donald, JJ.A., of the British Columbia Court of Appeal. The decision of the court was delivered by Legg, J.A., on September 15, 1995.