Saskatchewan moves to amend Constitution amid civil trial with Canadian Pacific
Global News
The court battle, which has been going on for 13 years, is currently being argued at trial in Regina's Court of Queen's Bench.
The basis of a lawsuit between Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. and the Saskatchewan government moves to the floor of the provincial legislature Monday, before possibly heading to Ottawa in a bid to amend the Constitution.
Canadian Pacific is suing the province for $341 million over a clause that was written in a contract so old John A. Macdonald was prime minister and Saskatchewan wasn’t yet a province.
The court battle, which has been going on for 13 years, is currently being argued at trial in Regina’s Court of Queen’s Bench.
In its statement of claim, CP says it wants a return of taxes paid to Saskatchewan since 2002 and a declaration that future taxes are not payable.
The corporation argues it’s exempt from paying certain taxes based primarily on a 1880 contract between Canada and CP’s predecessor. In exchange for tax exemptions, CP agreed to build the transcontinental railway.
“In exchange for CP’s investments and commitment to build and to operate this railway forever, the prairie provinces and federal government agreed to certain tax exemptions for business conducted on this main line,” CP spokesman Patrick Waldron said in an email.
The exemption became part of the Saskatchewan Act in the Constitution, when the province was created 116 years ago.
However, Saskatchewan argues the tax exemption was rescinded on Aug. 29, 1966, in a letter from then CP president Ian D. Sinclair to the former federal minister of transport John Pickersgill in exchange for modernized transportation legislation.