Before finding that an order of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court (obtained without the federal Crown being a party to the proceedings) retroactively adding preferred shares to the authorized capital of a corporation and confirming that they had been issued to the taxpayers also had retroactive effect for taxation purposes, Robertson J.A. stated (at pp. 5255-6):
As a matter of law both the Tax Court and this Court are required to give effect to orders issued by the superior courts of the provinces. ...
Wilson v. The Queen, 1983] 2 SCR 594 ... establishes the general rule that an order of a superior court cannot be atacked collaterally unless it is lawfully set aside. ...
It seems only logical that a [superior] court would decline the invitation to grant a retroactive order which has the clear legal effect of rewriting fiscal history. Assuing that such an order were granted, then it would be proper to ask whether the Minister is entitled to ignore it for taxation purposes.