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Bill C-44

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Order and Safety

Order and safety

51.1 Subject to any regulations made under section 52, a port authority shall take appropriate measures for the maintenance of order and the safety of persons and property in the port.

Regulations

Regulations

52. (1) For the purposes of this Part, the Governor in Council may make regulations respecting

    (a) the navigation and use by ships of the navigable waters within the jurisdiction of a port authority, including the mooring, berthing, loading and unloading of ships;

    (b) the use and environmental protection of a port under the jurisdiction of a port authority, including the regulation or prohibition of uses, structures, works and operations;

    (b.1) the removal, destruction or disposal of any structure or work that interferes with navigation and provision for the recovery of the costs incurred;

    (c) the maintenance of order and the safety of persons and property in a port;

    (d) the regulation of persons, vehicles or aircraft in a port;

    (e) the regulation or prohibition of the excavation, removal or deposit of material or of any other action that is likely to affect in any way the navigability of a port or to affect any of the lands adjacent to a port;

    (f) the regulation or prohibition of the transportation, handling or storing, in a port, of explosives or other substances that, in the opinion of the Governor in Council, constitute or are likely to constitute a danger or hazard to life or property.

    (g) the stewardship obligation of a port authority in respect of federal real property under the management of the port authority;

    (h) the insurance coverage that a port authority and a wholly-owned subsidiary of a port authority must maintain; and

    (i) the imposition of obligations on a port authority or a wholly-owned subsidiary of a port authority, as an agent of Her Majesty in right of Canada, including any requirements for a port authority or a wholly-owned subsidiary of a port authority to indemnify Her Majesty.

Application

(2) A regulation made under subsection (1) may apply to only one port.

Application to Crown

(3) A regulation made under subsection (1) may be made binding on Her Majesty in right of Canada or a province.

Transitional

(4) Subject to subsection 41(6), any regulations made before the coming into force of this section with respect to a port in respect of which letters patent are issued to a port authority shall, to the extent that they are compatible with this Act, continue in force for a period ending on the earlier of the expiration of twelve months after the letters patent are issued and the date on which regulations to replace them are made under subsection (1) with respect to that port.

Evidence of limits of navigable waters

53. A port authority may erect marks or signs to indicate the limits of the navigable waters under its jurisdiction and every mark or sign so erected is evidence of the limits of those waters.

PART II

PUBLIC PORTS

Designation by Governor in Council

Designation by regulation

54. (1) The Governor in Council may, by regulation,

    (a) designate as a public port any navigable waters within the jurisdiction of Parliament, including any foreshore;

    (b) define the limits of a public port; and

    (c) designate any port facility under the administration of the Minister as a public port facility.

Deemed public ports

(2) Every port and port facility that on the coming into force of this section was a public harbour or public port facility to which the Public Harbours and Port Facilities Act applied is deemed to have been designated under subsection (1).

Deemed public ports

(3) With the exception of a port for which a port authority is incorporated under Part I, every port and facility to which the Canada Ports Corporation Act applied on the coming into force of this section is deemed to have been designated under subsection (1).

Deemed public ports

(4) For greater certainty, the Governor in Council may make regulations under subsection (1) in respect of any public harbour or public port facility that is deemed under subsection (2) or (3) to have been designated and, in the case of a public port, define its limits.

Evidence of limits of navigable waters

(5) The Minister may have marks or signs erected to indicate the limits of the navigable waters of a public port and every mark or sign so erected is evidence of the limits of those waters.

Repeal of designations

(6) The Governor in Council may, by regulation, repeal the designation of a public port or public port facility made or deemed to have been made under this section.

Federal Real Property Act

55. (1) For the purposes of the Federal Real Property Act, the Minister has the administration of the federal real property that forms part of a public port or public port facility.

Other ports and facilities

(2) The Minister does not have the administration of the federal real property that is under the administration of any other member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.

Power of Minister

(3) For greater certainty, the repeal of the designation of a public port or public port facility does not terminate the application of the Federal Real Property Act to the federal real property that formed part of the port or facility and that is owned by Her Majesty in right of Canada.

Fees

Fixing of fees

56. (1) The Minister may fix the fees to be paid in respect of

    (a) ships, vehicles, aircraft and persons coming into or using a public port or public port facility;

    (b) goods loaded on ships, unloaded from ships or transhipped by water within the limits of a public port or stored in, or moved across, a public port facility; and

    (c) any service provided by the Minister, or any right or privilege conferred by the Minister, in respect of the operation of a public port or public port facility.

Interest

(2) The Minister may fix the interest rate to be charged on overdue fees.

Application to Crown

(3) The fees and the interest rate may be made binding on Her Majesty in right of Canada or a province.

Application to military and police ships

(4) The fees fixed under paragraphs (1)(a) and (b) do not apply in respect of a Canadian warship, naval auxiliary ship or other ship under the command of the Canadian Forces, a ship of a visiting force within the meaning of the Visiting Forces Act or any other ship while it is under the command of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Services

57. The Minister may enter into agreements to provide services, rights or privileges, as the Minister considers appropriate, at a public port or public port facility and may agree by contract to accept fees other than those fixed under subsection 56(1) for those services, rights and privileges.

Harbour Masters and Wharfingers

Harbour masters and wharfingers

58. (1) The Minister may appoint as a harbour master or wharfinger for all or part of a public port or public port facility any person who, in the Minister's opinion, is qualified and assign responsibilities to that person.

Remunera-
tion

(2) The Minister may fix the remuneration to be paid to a harbour master or wharfinger and the amounts of the remuneration may, notwithstanding anything in the Financial Administration Act, be paid out of the fees collected in respect of public ports and public port facilities.

Transitional

(3) An appointment as a harbour master or wharfinger made by the Minister under subsection 11(2) of the Public Harbours and Ports Facilities Act, and the remuneration determined by the Governor in Council under subsection 11(3) of that Act in respect of that appointment, continue in effect as though they had been made and fixed under this section.

Agreements

Agreements

59. The Minister may enter into agreements with any person or body in respect of the management or operation of a public port or public port facility, or a group of them.

Federal Real Property

Leases and licences

60. (1) Notwithstanding the Federal Real Property Act, the Minister may lease any federal real property that forms, or formed, part of a public port or public port facility or grant a licence in respect of the property, for twenty years or for a longer period with the approval of the Governor in Council.

Application of provincial law

(2) A lease or licence may be effected by any instrument by which real property may be leased or a licence may be granted by a private person under the laws in force in the province in which the property is situated.

Agreements for disposal or transfer

61. (1) The Minister may enter into agreements in respect of

    (a) the disposal of all or part of the federal real property that formed part of a public port or public port facility by sale or any other means; and

    (b) the transfer of the administration and control of all or part of the federal real property that formed part of a public port or public port facility to Her Majesty in right of a province.

Content of agreements

(2) The agreements may include

    (a) provisions for the performance and enforcement of obligations under the agreements; and

    (b) any other terms and conditions that the Minister considers appropriate.

Security

(3) The Minister may

    (a) accept and hold on behalf of Her Majesty any security granted to Her Majesty under the agreements or any security granted in substitution for them; and

    (b) release or realize on any security referred to in paragraph (a).

Authority to carry out agreements

(4) The Minister may take any measures that the Minister considers appropriate to carry out the agreements and to protect the interests or enforce the rights of Her Majesty under them.

Disposal and transfer

(5) The disposal or transfer of federal real property may be effected under the authority of this section or the Federal Real Property Act.

Application of provincial law

(6) The disposal or transfer of federal real property under this section may be effected by any instrument by which real property may be transferred by a private person under the laws in force in the province in which the property is situated.

Reports to Parliament

(7) The Minister shall, for each of the five fiscal years following the coming into force of this section, prepare a report on the disposition and transfer measures the Minister has taken during that fiscal year and on the continuing management of public ports and public port facilities during that year. The Minister shall have the report laid before each House of Parliament within three months after the end of that fiscal year or, if that House is not then sitting, on any of the first fifteen days after that time that it is sitting.

Minister responsible

(8) Subject to any regulations made under section 63, the Minister continues to have the managmeent of public ports and public port facilities that the Minister has not disposed of or transferred.

General

Navigable Waters Protection Act

62. (1) The Navigable Waters Protection Act does not apply to works, within the meaning of that Act, to which this Part applies.

Works lawful

(2) Any work undertaken in accordance with this Part is a lawful work, within the meaning of the Navigable Waters Protection Act, even though it interferes with navigation.

Regulations

Regulations

63. (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations for the management, control, development and use of public ports and public port facilities, including regulations respecting

    (a) the navigation and use by ships of a public port, including the mooring, berthing, loading and unloading of ships;

    (b) the regulation and prohibition of uses, structures, works or operations within the limits of public ports or at or adjacent to public port facilities;

    (b.1) the removal, destruction or disposal of any structure or work that interferes with navigation and provision for the recovery of the costs incurred;

    (c) the environmental protection of a public port or a public port facility;

    (d) the maintenance of order and the safety of persons and property within the limits of a public port or at a public port facility;

    (e) the regulation of persons, vehicles or aircraft within the limits of a public port or at a public port facility;

    (f) the regulation or prohibition of the excavation, removal or deposit of material or of any other action that is likely to affect in any way the navigability of a public port or the operation of a public port facility or to affect any of the lands adjacent to a port or facility; and

    (g) the regulation or prohibition of the transportation, handling or storing, within the limits of a public port or at or adjacent to any land that forms part of a public port or public port facility, of explosives or other substances that, in the opinion of the Governor in Council, constitute or are likely to constitute a danger or hazard to life or property.

Application

(2) A regulation made under subsection (1) may apply to only one public port or public port facility.

Application to Crown

(3) A regulation made under subsection (1) may be made binding on Her Majesty in right of Canada or a province.

Coming into force of regulations

64. Regulations made under section 12 of the Public Harbours and Port Facilities Act are deemed to have been made under this Part and continue in force until

    (a) in the case of regulations in respect of rates, tolls, fees or other charges, they are repealed by the Minister; and

    (b) in any other case, they are repealed by regulations made under subsection 63(1).