TORONTO, Ont. – The Canadian Courier Association will join forces with both the Ontario Trucking Association and Canadian Trucking Alliance on Jan. 1, with alliances that will involve the sharing of membership fees and benefits.

While the CCA will retain its own board, it will also assume a seat on the board of each trucking association.

“The alliance enables both organizations to maintain their independence on sector specific issues, while joining forces on those issues where a unified voice will increase our chance of success,” says Gary Breninger, incoming executive director of CCA.

The group will pursue similar arrangements with other provincial trucking associations.

“There is no doubt that by combining our mutual strengths, the road freight transportation sector lobby effort will be enhanced,” says Ontario Trucking Association president David Bradley, who is also chief executive officer of the CTA. n

Court rules fines should be tax deducations

OTTAWA, Ont. – A recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling could make fines or penalties a legitimate tax deduction, the Ontario Trucking Association reports.

Noting a 5-2 ruling on Nov. 25 that found in favor of a B.C. egg farmer (who wanted to deduct an over-quota production levy), the association says the court found nothing in the Income Tax Act to suggest that a penalty or fine needed to be “unavoidable” to be deductible.

The two dissenting judges said the distinction between deductible and non-deductible fines or penalties should be determined on a case-by-case basis.

“Nonetheless, the majority of the court held the opinion that parliament, and not the courts, should decide which expenses incurred for the purpose of earning business income should not be deductible,” the association says.

Wrote Justice Frank Iacobucci, “Parliament has made such decisions on many occasions; this is simply not one of them. As such, levies, fines and penalties which are incurred for the purpose of earning income are deductible business expenses.”

The Income Tax Act, he added, “is one of the most detailed, complex and comprehensive statutes in our legislative inventory and courts should be reluctant to embrace unexpressed notions of policy or principle in the guise of statutory interpretation.”

For a full copy of the decision, surf the Web to www.droit.umontreal.ca/doc/csc-scc/en/index.html.

Cite case 65302, Nov. 25. n