The taxpayer, in connection with changing the location of his employment in Toronto, moved his residence from one in Newmarket to his new residence in Mississauga and incurred almost $130,000 in relocation expenses. Whether they qualified for deduction turned on whether the reduction in commuting distance produced by his move exceeded 40 kilometers.
The route used by the taxpayer for four days out of five to travel during rush hour from his new downtown office to his old home (with the reverse occurring during the morning rush hour) entailed a circuitous route recommended by Google Maps that involved driving first westward to Hwy. 427, proceeding north on Hwy. 400, then east on Hwy. 9. The route chosen by CRA, using a Google Maps time of 7:45 PM rather than 4:45 PM due to a time zone error made by the Vancouver-based auditor, entailed a more direct route that proceeded north on Hwy. 404 and then west on Hwy. 9. Notwithstanding the time zone error, the Crown at trial maintained that this more direct route satisfied the test of the “shortest normal route” under the jurisprudence.
In rejecting this position and allowing the taxpayer's appeal, Bocock J stated (at para. 27) that “[t]he new norm of shortest normal route most people use deploys Google Maps to select such route.”