The Canada Revenue Agency yesterday would not comment on warnings it will enforce a $17.4 billion increase in capital gains taxes though the measure never passed Parliament. An Agency manager publicly stated auditors will “continue to administer the proposed legislation” as if it was law.

“We are looking into this,” said Benoit Sabourin, spokesperson for the Agency. “We will keep you up to date.”

The Agency cannot bypass Parliament in enforcing tax law. “Parliament is supreme,” then-Liberal MP Wayne Easter (Malpeque, P.E.I.), said in a 2021 dispute over enforcement of a separate tax measure. “Parliament is above cabinet, it is above the Department of Finance. We can’t allow that to be undermined.”