On June 29, 2021, Bill C-208 received Royal Assent. The passing of this private member’s bill was a bit surprising given the rarity of such bills passing. The bill enables inter-generational transfers of certain property to occur with the benefit of the transferor claiming the capital gains deduction—something that could not previously happy under long-standing law.

This podcast—hosted by Kim G C Moody, Kenneth Keung and Aasim Hirji of Moodys Tax—walks through the bill and discusses opportunities and areas where the bill may not wholly facilitate its policy objectives. The podcast also provides context and history as to how Bill C-208 came to being proposed and discusses concerns about how the legislation can provide opportunities to be abused. The podcast finishes by discussing the implementation/effective date of the legislation.

Is it current law? The Department of Finance stated in a June 30, 2021 news release that it intends to introduce legislation to clarify that these amendments would apply starting January 1, 2022. Can the Department of Finance indeed do that? What is the current law regarding bills that do not have an explicit application date (like Bill C-208)?