Following the Sommerer decision, which caused a tax plan to cease to work, the Minister assessed trusts on the basis that dividends paid by corporations to trusts (which had been anticipated to be received free of tax) were taxable. In finding that the Minister was bound to take this action, Brown J stated (at paras. 25-26):
By s. 220(1) of the Act, Parliament has imposed upon the Minister a duty (“[t]he Minister shall”) to “administer and enforce” the Act. No discretion is afforded the Minister or the Minister’s agents: “They are required to follow [the Act] absolutely, just as taxpayers are also required to obey it as it stands” (Harris … .
[T]he Minister was bound to apply Parliament’s direction in the Act, as interpreted by a court of law, unless and until that interpretation is judged to be incorrect by a higher court.