Canada Transportation Act (S.C. 1996, c. 10)

Agreements

Marginal note:Agreements to apply transportation law to provincial railways

• 157.1 (1) The Minister may enter into an agreement with a provincial minister responsible for transportation matters providing for the administration, in relation to persons who operate railways within the legislative authority of the province, of any law respecting

  • (a) accident investigations and railway crossings; or

  • (b) railway noise and vibration, or the regulation of the rates and conditions of service of railway companies, to the extent that those matters are governed by this Act.

• Marginal note:Designation

  (2) The Minister may designate any body established under an Act of Parliament, or any person or class of persons employed in the federal public administration, to administer the law in accordance with the agreement.

• Marginal note:Functions, duties and powers

  (3) The designated body, person or class of persons may perform any function or duty and exercise any powers necessary for the enforcement of the law, to the extent specified in the agreement.

Marginal note:Agreements made with provincial authorities

158 The Minister may enter into an agreement with a provincial authority to authorize the provincial authority to regulate the construction and operation of a railway as well as the rates and conditions of service in the same manner and to the same extent as it may regulate a railway within its jurisdiction.

PART IVArbitrations

DIVISION IFinal Offer Arbitration

Marginal note:Application of sections 161 to 169

• 159 (1) Sections 161 to 169 apply only in respect of matters arising between shippers and carriers that involve

  • (a) the carriage of goods by air to which Part II applies, other than their carriage internationally;

  • (b) the carriage of goods by railways to which this Act applies, other than the carriage of goods in trailers or containers on flat cars unless the containers arrive by water at a port in Canada, served by only one railway company, for further movement by rail or arrive by rail at such a port in Canada for further movement by water; or

  • (c) the carriage by water, for hire or reward, of goods required for the maintenance or development of a municipality or any permanent settlement for northern marine resupply purposes, other than goods required in relation to national defence or in relation to the exploration for or the development, extraction or processing of oil, gas or any mineral.

• Marginal note:Scope of paragraph (1)(c)

  (2) Paragraph (1)(c) applies only to resupply services on

  • (a) the rivers, streams, lakes and other waters within the watershed of the Mackenzie River;

  • (b) the territorial sea and internal waters of Canada that are adjacent to the coast of the mainland and islands of the Canadian Arctic and situated within the area bounded by the meridians of longitude 95° West and 141° West and the parallels of latitude 66° 00′30″ North and 74°00′20″ North; and

  • (c) the internal waters of Canada comprised in Spence Bay and Shepherd Bay and situated east of the meridian of longitude 95° West.

• Marginal note:Application

  (3) Paragraph (1)(c) applies only if

  • (a) the total register tonnage of all ships used to provide the resupply service exceeds fifty register tons; or

  • (b) the resupply service originates from a point situated on the waters described in subsection (2).

Marginal note:Rail passenger services

160 Sections 161 to 169 also apply, with any modifications that the circumstances require, in respect of the rates charged or proposed to be charged by, and in respect of any of the conditions associated with the provision of services by, a railway company to any other railway company engaged in passenger rail services, except a public passenger service provider as defined in section 87.

Marginal note:Submission for final offer arbitration

• 161 (1) A shipper who is dissatisfied with the rate or rates charged or proposed to be charged by a carrier for the movement of goods, or with any of the conditions associated with the movement of goods, may, if the matter cannot be resolved between the shipper and the carrier, submit the matter in writing to the Agency for a final offer arbitration to be conducted by one arbitrator or, if the shipper and the carrier agree, by a panel of three arbitrators.

• Marginal note:Contents of submission

  (2) A copy of a submission under subsection (1) shall be served on the carrier by the shipper and the submission shall contain

  • (a) the final offer of the shipper to the carrier in the matter, excluding any dollar amounts;

  • (b) the period requested by the shipper, not exceeding two years, for which the decision of the arbitrator is to apply;

  • (c) an undertaking by the shipper to ship the goods to which the arbitration relates in accordance with the decision of the arbitrator;

  • (d) an undertaking by the shipper to the Agency whereby the shipper agrees to pay to the arbitrator the fee for which the shipper is liable under section 166 as a party to the arbitration; and

  • (e) the name of the arbitrator, if any, that the shipper and the carrier agreed should conduct the arbitration or, if they agreed that the arbitration should be conducted by a panel of three arbitrators, the name of an arbitrator chosen by the shipper and the name of an arbitrator chosen by the carrier.

• Marginal note:Arbitration precluded in certain cases

  (3) The Agency shall not have any matter submitted to it by a shipper under subsection (1) arbitrated if the shipper has not, at least five days before making the submission, served on the carrier a written notice indicating that the shipper intends to submit the matter to the Agency for a final offer arbitration.

• Marginal note:Final offer arbitration not a proceeding

  (4) A final offer arbitration is not a proceeding before the Agency.

Marginal note:Submission of final offers

• 161.1 (1) Within 10 days after a submission is served under subsection 161(2), the shipper and the carrier shall submit to the Agency their final offers, including dollar amounts.

• Marginal note:Copies to the parties

  (2) Without delay after final offers are submitted under subsection (1) by both the shipper and the carrier, the Agency shall provide the shipper and the carrier with copies of each other’s final offer.

• Marginal note:If no final offer from a party

  (3) If one party does not submit a final offer in accordance with subsection (1), the final offer submitted by the other party is deemed to be the final offer selected by the arbitrator under subsection 165(1).

Marginal note:Arbitration

• 162 (1) Notwithstanding any application filed with the Agency by a carrier in respect of a matter, within five days after final offers are received under subsection 161.1(1), the Agency shall refer the matter for arbitration

  • (a) if the parties did not agree that the arbitration should be conducted by a panel of three arbitrators, to the arbitrator, if any, named under paragraph 161(2)(e) or, if that arbitrator is not, in the opinion of the Agency, available to conduct the arbitration or no arbitrator is named, to an arbitrator on the list of arbitrators referred to in section 169 who the Agency chooses and determines is appropriate and available to conduct the arbitration; and

  • (b) if the parties agreed that the arbitration should be conducted by a panel of three arbitrators,

    • (i) to the arbitrators named by the parties under paragraph 161(2)(e) and to any arbitrator who those arbitrators have, within 10 days after the submission was served under subsection 161(2), notified the Agency that they have agreed on, or if those arbitrators did not so notify the Agency, to an arbitrator on the list of arbitrators referred to in section 169 who the Agency chooses and determines is appropriate and available to conduct the arbitration, or

    • (ii) if an arbitrator referred to in subparagraph (i) is not, in the opinion of the Agency, available to conduct the arbitration, to the arbitrators named in that subparagraph who are available and to an arbitrator chosen by the Agency from the list of arbitrators referred to in section 169 who the Agency determines is appropriate and available to conduct the arbitration.

• Marginal note:Interpretation

  (1.1) If a matter was referred to a panel of arbitrators, every reference in subsections (1.2) and (2) and sections 163 to 169 to an arbitrator or the arbitrator shall be construed as a reference to a panel of arbitrators or the panel of arbitrators, as the case may be.

• Marginal note:Delay in referral

  (1.2) If the shipper consents to an application referred to in subsection (1) being heard before the matter is referred to an arbitrator, the Agency shall defer referring the matter until the application is dealt with.

• Marginal note:Assistance by Agency

  (2) The Agency may, at the request of the arbitrator, provide administrative, technical and legal assistance to the arbitrator on a cost recovery basis.

Marginal note:Decision or order affecting a matter being arbitrated

162.1 The Agency may, in addition to any other decision or order it may make, order that an arbitration be discontinued, that it be continued subject to the terms and conditions that the Agency may fix or that the decision of the arbitrator be set aside if

• (a) the Agency makes a decision or an order arising out of an application that is in respect of a matter submitted to the Agency for a final offer arbitration and that is filed by a carrier before the matter is referred to arbitration; and

• (b) the decision or order affects the arbitration.

Marginal note:Procedure

• 163 (1) In the absence of an agreement by the arbitrator and the parties as to the procedure to be followed, a final offer arbitration shall be governed by the rules of procedure made by the Agency.

• Marginal note:Procedure generally

  (2) The arbitrator shall conduct the arbitration proceedings as expeditiously as possible and, subject to the procedure referred to in subsection (1), in the manner the arbitrator considers appropriate having regard to the circumstances of the matter.

• Marginal note:Exchange of information

  (3) Within fifteen days after the Agency refers a matter for arbitration, the parties shall exchange the information that they intend to submit to the arbitrator in support of their final offers.

• Marginal note:Interrogatories

  (4) Within seven days after receipt of the information referred to in subsection (3), each party may direct interrogatories to the other, which shall be answered within fifteen days after their receipt.

• Marginal note:Withholding of information

  (5) If a party unreasonably withholds information that the arbitrator subsequently deems to be relevant, that withholding shall be taken into account by the arbitrator in making a decision.

Marginal note:Arbitration information

• 164 (1) The arbitrator shall, in conducting a final offer arbitration between a shipper and a carrier, have regard to the information provided to the arbitrator by the parties in support of their final offers and, unless the parties agree to limit the amount of information to be provided, to any additional information that is provided by the parties at the arbitrator’s request.

• Marginal note:Arbitration considerations

  (2) Unless the parties agree otherwise, in rendering a decision the arbitrator shall have regard to whether there is available to the shipper an alternative, effective, adequate and competitive means of transporting the goods to which the matter relates and to all considerations that appear to the arbitrator to be relevant to the matter.

Marginal note:Summary process

164.1 If the Agency determines that a shipper’s final offer submitted under subsection 161.1(1) involves freight charges in an amount of not more than $2,000,000, adjusted in accordance with section 164.2, and the shipper did not indicate a contrary intention when submitting the offer, sections 163 and 164 do not apply and the arbitration shall proceed as follows:

• (a) within seven days after a matter is referred to an arbitrator, the shipper and the carrier may file with the arbitrator a response to the final offer of the other party;

• (b) subject to paragraph (c), the arbitrator shall decide the matter on the basis of the final offers and any response filed under paragraph (a); and

• (c) if the arbitrator considers it necessary, the arbitrator may invite the parties to make oral representations or may ask the parties to appear before him or her to provide further information.