The Modern Approach to Statutory Interpretation, Applied to the Section 15 Anomaly in Foreign Affiliate Financing

In this article, the author identifies a common foreign affiliate loan transaction that may give rise to an anomalous application of the shareholder loan provisions if those provisions are read and applied literally. He then provides a brief review of the modern approach to statutory interpretation and applies that approach to subsections 15(2) and (2.3), in an attempt to reconcile text with context and purpose, and thus arrive at a sensible conclusion. It is the author's hope that the framework under which the modern approach is understood and applied in the context of the loan transaction may be instructive in other instances where a textual reading of the relevant provisions gives rise to an anomalous result.