The Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Pension Plan v. The Queen, 2003 GTC 899-62, 2003 TCC 618 -- summary under Paragraph (q)

After noting that "the measure of the 'principal activity' must be the importance of the activity to the achievement of the organization's goals or purposes", Bowie T.C.J. found that the "principal activity" of a pension plan was not the investing of funds (as contemplated by paragraph (q)). Given that its principal object was to provide pensions to retired employees, its principal (or most important) activities must be considered to be those that contributed most to achieving those objects and it could not accomplish its objects without the collection of the employer and employee contributions, and the computation of payment of payment benefits to retirees; whereas it could, at least in theory, have collected contributions and paid them out to retirees without ever investing its funds.