Century Services Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General)

2010 SCC 60 (Released 16 December 2010)

Bankruptcy and Insolvency – Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act – Priorities

In the first decision of the Supreme Court of Canada considering the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act ("CCAA"), the court discusses the principles of interpretation for the CCAA. Apart from its importance in that respect, the decision is also of interest for its discussion of statutory interpretation, particularly with respect to statutory amendments.

In Century Services, the issue was the relationship between s. 222(3) of the Excise Tax Act ("ETA"), which creates a statutory deemed trust over unremitted GST, and s. 18.3(1) of the CCAA, which provided that any statutory deemed trusts in favour of the Crown did not operate under the CCAA, subject to certain exceptions (none of which include GST). An order made in the CCAA proceedings allowed a payment to the debtor company's main creditor, Century Services Inc.; however, the debtor company