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43 Dalhousie L.J. 1 (2020)

handle is hein.journals/dalholwj43 and id is 1 raw text is: Catherine Anne Brown* Treaty Shopping and the New Joseph Bogle** Multilateral Tax Agreement-Is it Business as Usual in Canada? On 1 January 2020 the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Multilateral Convention (MLI) entered into effect for many of Canada's tax treaties. New provisions introduced by the MLI, specifically the principal purpose test (PPT) and a new preamble, raised concerns that the bar to deny treaty benefits would be substantially lower than the bar previously set by Canada's General Anti- Avoidance Rule (GAAR). This paper considers how the MLI will impact access to treaty benefits in Canada by applying the new MLI measures to treaty shopping cases previously challenged underthe GAAR. The paper concludes that application of the PPT by Canadian courts will result in similar outcomes in these cases. In short, the MLI will arrive 'with a whimper and not a bang' in Canada. The MLI's most significant impact on Canadian international tax law will be the patchwork quilt of tax avoidance regimes that will govern Canada's tax treaties in the future. La Convention multilaterale (IM), nee de l'Initiative de I'OCDE e vue de prevenir l'erosion de la base d'imposition et le transfert des benefices (BEPS) et lutter contre l'4vasion fiscale internationale, est entree en vigueur au Canada le 1er decembre 2019. L'IM entrainera des modifications e de nombreuses conventions fiscales du Canada, notamment l'ajout de nouvelles mesures pour contrer les strategies d'4vitement fiscal. II est generalement admis que ces mesures abaisseront considerablement la barre pour 4liminer les avantages des conventions fiscales qui avait et4 fixee par la regle generale anti-evitement (RGAE) du Canada, et remettront en question le statu quo selon lequel, e des fins fiscales, le a chalandage fiscal)) n'est pas en soi a intrinsequement correct ou incorrect .>> Le present article remet en question cette conclusion. Le principal changement qui sera apporte par l'IM aux 93 conventions fiscales du Canada consistera en une serie de regimes d'4vitement fiscal differents selon qu'il s'agit d'une convention couverte ou non et selon les mesures d'4vitement fiscal specifiques qu'elle adopte. * Professor of Law, University of Calgary. ** Law Student, University of Calgary, JD 2020.