The taxpayer challenged assessments of her under s. 160(2) respecting unpaid tax of her late husband for his 1988 and 1989 taxation year by arguing that the assessments of him for those years were statute-barred given that CRA had not received a waiver on a timely basis which, in the case of his 1989 taxation year, turned on the proposition that the receipt by CRA of a waiver on a Monday was one day following the expiry of the normal reassessment period on the Sunday).
In reversing the Tax Court’s finding that s. 26 of the Interpretation Act had not extended the time for the receipt by CRA of the waiver to that Monday, Biringer JA stated (at paras. 42 – 44, 47):
There is nothing in the text to suggest a limitation on the type of thing (acte ou formalité) to which the provision applies or that there be the loss of a right. …
Section 26 is a remedial provision. It provides relief when the time limit for doing a thing expires on a holiday, allowing the thing to be done on the next day that is not a holiday. …
I am satisfied that the filing of a waiver is the “doing of a thing” for the purposes of section 26 … .
… I do not view the time limited for filing a waiver as conceptually different for this purpose from the deadlines for filing a notice of objection or notice of appeal … . The Tax Court has applied section 26 … to extend the time for filing both … .