The taxpayer (who had an October 31 fiscal year end) followed a practice of purchasing a new fleet of cars from Ford to replace the fleet which it had acquired the previous year. The process of exchanging the cars was initiated and completed within the month of October but the intent of the parties was that title to the old fleet would remain with the taxpayer until November 15, at which point payment by Ford for the old fleet would be effected by way of set-off against the amount payable by the taxpayer for the new fleet.
Noël J.A. found that for purposes of the Act there is no "disposition" (and no acquisition) unless there is a change in the beneficial ownership of the subject property. With respect to a sale transaction, Parliament had specified in s. 13(21)(a) the entitlement which gives rise to a disposition, namely, to the sale price; and the terms "sale price of property that has been sold" are presumed to bear their legal meaning. Accordingly, the old fleet had not been disposed of at year end.