In finding that an employee stock purchase plan (under which employees contributed up to 6% of their salary and the taxpayer and its affiliated companies then were obligated to contribute an amount equal to 1/2 of each employee's contribution) was governed by s. 7(1)(a), with the result that s. 7(3) applied to deny a deduction to the taxpayer (except to the extent that the taxpayer's contribution to the plan was not returned to it in the form of a share subscription), Marceau J.A. stated (p. 6410):
"Based on the following facts: that the trustee is merely a conduit through which the employer administers the Plan; that the employees never receive money or money's worth until termination or withdrawal and, even then, never from the employer directly; and, that the funds payable by the employer to the trustee each month have a predetermined destination and never fall under any real control or genuine power of the employees or the trustee, it must be concluded that the true benefit the employees acquire by their participation in the Plan is not the entitlement to an additional remuneration but the entitlement to a credit for shares of Placer at two-thirds of their market value."