Century Services Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General)

Mary Buttery recently won an important case for Century Services Inc. at the Supreme Court of Canada. Ms. Buttery is the head of the Vancouver office's Business Solutions & Restructuring Group.

In the important decision, which was the first time the Supreme Court has considered the Companies' Creditor's Arrangement Act ("CCAA"), the Court determined the CCAA and not the Excise Tax Act provides the rule with respect to the priority of unremitted GST during the course of a company's restructuring proceeding. In doing so, the Court considered the purpose and history of the CCAA, and the interplay of the CCAA and the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

The Court also confirmed the broad discretion afforded to a CCAA supervising judge in the context of a restructuring. Importantly, the Court also over-ruled the leading Ontario Court of Appeal decision in Ottawa Senators Hockey Club Corp.

Century Services Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General), 2010 SCC 60, [2010] 3 SCR 379