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

Minister

48 [Repealed, 2018, c. 10, s. 7]

Inquiries

Marginal note:Minister may request inquiry

• 49 (1) The Minister may direct the Agency to inquire into any matter or thing concerning transportation to which the legislative authority of Parliament extends and report the findings on the inquiry to the Minister as and when the Minister may require.

• Marginal note:Powers

  (2) For greater certainty, sections 38 and 39 apply in respect of an inquiry.

• Marginal note:Summary of findings

  (3) The Agency shall make public a summary of its findings that does not include any confidential information.

Transportation Information

Marginal note:Regulations re information

• 50 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations requiring any persons referred to in subsection (1.1) who are subject to the legislative authority of Parliament to provide information, other than personal information as defined in section 3 of the Privacy Act, to the Minister, when and in the form and manner that the regulations may specify, for the purposes of

  • (a) national transportation policy development;

  • (b) reporting under section 52;

  • (c) operational planning;

  • (d) any safety, security or subsidy program;

  • (e) any infrastructure requirement;

  • (e.1) monitoring the grain transportation and handling system; or

  • (f) the administration of this Act.

• Marginal note:Class 1 rail carrier

  (1.01) The Governor in Council may make regulations requiring any class 1 rail carrier or class of those carriers to provide information, other than personal information as defined in section 3 of the Privacy Act, to the Minister or Agency, when and in the form and manner that the regulations may specify, for the purposes of

  • (a) determining the long-haul interswitching rate referred to in paragraph 134(1)(a); and

  • (b) communicating service and performance indicators to the public.

• Marginal note:Persons referred to

  (1.1) The persons for the purposes of subsection (1) are

  • (a) carriers;

  • (b) owners or operators of

    • (i) transportation undertakings,

    • (ii) transportation works, infrastructure, facilities or assets, and

    • (iii) grain handling undertakings;

  • (c) providers of services in relation to transportation, including

    • (i) the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority,

    • (ii) NAV CANADA, a corporation incorporated on May 26, 1995 under Part II of the Canada Corporations Act, chapter C-32 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970, and

    • (iii) Pilotage Authorities named in the schedule to the Pilotage Act;

  • (d) intermediaries involved in transportation movements who are specified in the regulations; and

  • (e) any other person or class of persons specified in the regulations.

• Marginal note:Information to be provided

  (2) Information that is required to be provided under this section may include the following:

  • (a) financial information;

  • (b) information respecting traffic and operations;

  • (c) fitness and ownership information; and

  • (d) information respecting the performance of air carriers and providers of services in relation to air transportation with regard to passenger experience and the quality of service.

• Marginal note:Restriction

  (3) No regulation made under subsection (1) shall require or have the effect of requiring any person to provide the Minister with a contract referred to in subsection 68(1) or a contract entered into under subsection 126(1) or under section 53 of the Canada Marine Act.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (3.1) Subsection (3) does not apply in respect of a contract entered into under subsection 126(1) to the extent that the information is required for the purpose of monitoring the grain transportation and handling system.

• Marginal note:Report on the monitoring of the grain transportation and handling system

  (3.2) The Minister must prepare, within six months after the end of each crop year, a report on the monitoring of the grain transportation and handling system and cause the report to be tabled in each House of Parliament on any of the first fifteen days on which that House is sitting after the Minister prepares it, if the Minister

  • (a) makes a regulation under paragraph (1)(e.1); and

  • (b) uses or communicates the information provided under the regulation for the purpose of monitoring the grain transportation and handling system.

• Marginal note:Exemptions

  (4) The Minister may exempt a carrier or transportation undertaking from the application of all or any part of a regulation made under this section if the Minister is satisfied that it is not practicable for the carrier or transportation undertaking to provide the information.

• Marginal note:Consultations

  (5) The Minister may consult with the Agency or Statistics Canada before making any regulation under this section.

Marginal note:Externally produced documents

• 50.01 (1) A regulation made under subsection 50(1) or (1.01) may incorporate by reference any document that is produced by a person or body other than the Minister.

• Marginal note:Type of incorporation by reference

  (2) A document may be incorporated by reference either as it exists on a particular date or as it is amended from time to time.

• Marginal note:Accessibility of incorporated document

  (3) The Minister must ensure that a document that is incorporated by reference is accessible.

• Marginal note:No finding of guilt or administrative sanction

  (4) A person is not liable to be found guilty of an offence or subjected to an administrative sanction for any contravention in respect of which a document that is incorporated by reference is relevant unless, at the time of the alleged contravention, the document was accessible as required by subsection (3) or it was otherwise accessible to that person.

• Marginal note:No registration or publication

  (5) For greater certainty, a document that is incorporated by reference is not required to be transmitted for registration or published in the Canada Gazette by reason only that it is incorporated by reference.

Marginal note:Existing power not limited

50.02 For greater certainty, an express power in this Act to incorporate by reference does not limit the power that otherwise exists to incorporate by reference in a regulation made under this Act.

Marginal note:Information already provided

50.1 For the purposes of subsection 50(1) or (1.01), if any information referred to in that subsection has already been provided to a department or agency of the Government of Canada, the Minister may request that department or agency to provide the information to the Minister.

Marginal note:Confidentiality of information

• 51 (1) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this Act or any other Act of Parliament, information required to be provided to the Minister pursuant to this Act is, when it is received by the Minister, confidential and must not knowingly be disclosed or made available by any person without the authorization of the person who provided the information or documentation, except for the purposes of a prosecution of a contravention of section 173.

• Marginal note:Communication of information

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply so as to prohibit

  • (a) the communication of information to the Agency, the Administrator of the Fund appointed under section 153.7, Statistics Canada or a minister of the Crown in right of Canada, the agent of that minister or an officer or employee of, or adviser to, Her Majesty in right of Canada for the purposes of the administration of this Act or any other Act of Parliament or for the purposes of the development of policies;

  • (b) the communication of information to persons referred to in paragraph 50(1.1)(c) that is necessary for them to carry out their duties and functions;

  • (c) the communication of information, including to the public, in an aggregated form that prevents information obtained from an identifiable person from being related to that person;

  • (d) the communication of information by the Minister for the purpose of monitoring the grain transportation and handling system; or

  • (e) the communication of information that is available to, or ascertainable by, the public.

• Marginal note:Terms and conditions

  (2.1) The Minister may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, make regulations respecting the terms and conditions for the communication of information referred to in subsection (2).

• Marginal note:Safe and secure procedures

  (3) The Minister shall ensure that the procedures and physical measures taken to ensure the confidentiality of information provided to the Minister pursuant to this Act, including the keeping of electronic data, are safe and secure.

• Marginal note:Requirement for other persons to maintain confidentiality

  (4) Any person who receives information from the Minister that is confidential under this Act shall not knowingly disclose that information and shall take the measures necessary to maintain its confidentiality.

Marginal note:Publication

51.1 Despite subsection 51(1), the Minister may make the information referred to in paragraph 50(2)(d) public.

Marginal note:Confidentiality of information — Agency

51.2 Information that is required to be provided to the Agency in accordance with regulations made under paragraph 50(1.01)(a) is, when it is received by the Agency, confidential and shall not knowingly be disclosed or made available by any person without the authorization of the person who provided the information, except for the purpose of a prosecution of a contravention of section 173.

Marginal note:Use of information

51.3 Information that is provided to the Minister or the Agency in accordance with regulations made under paragraph 50(1.01)(a) is only to be used by the Agency for the purpose of determining the long-haul interswitching rate referred to in paragraph 134(1)(a) and, despite subsection 51(4) and section 51.2, the Agency may, for that purpose, communicate the information in an aggregated form.

Marginal note:Publication

• 51.4 (1) If the Agency receives information from class 1 rail carriers or the Minister that is related to service and performance indicators provided in accordance with regulations made under paragraph 50(1.01)(b), the Agency shall publish the information on its Internet site within two days after it is received.

• Marginal note:Information received from Minister

  (2) Subsection 51(4) does not apply to the publication, in accordance with subsection (1), of information that is received from the Minister.

Industry Review

Marginal note:Industry overview

• 52 (1) Each year before the end of May, the Minister shall, using the most current information available, prepare and lay before both Houses of Parliament a report providing a brief overview of the state of transportation in Canada.

• Marginal note:Industry review

  (2) Every five years, the report referred to in subsection (1) shall be expanded to a comprehensive review of the state of transportation in Canada which shall include

  • (a) the financial performance of each mode of transportation and its contribution to the Canadian economy;

  • (b) the extent to which carriers and modes of transportation were provided resources, facilities and services at public expense;

  • (c) the extent to which carriers and modes of transportation received compensation, indirectly and directly, for the resources, facilities and services that were required to be provided as an imposed public duty;

  • (c.1) the long term outlook and trends in transportation in Canada; and

  • (d) any other transportation matters that the Minister considers appropriate.

Review of Act

Marginal note:Statutory review

• 53 (1) The Minister shall, no later than eight years after the day this subsection comes into force, appoint one or more persons to carry out a comprehensive review of the operation of this Act and any other Act of Parliament for which the Minister is responsible that pertains to the economic regulation of a mode of transportation or to transportation activities under the legislative authority of Parliament.

• Marginal note:Objective of review

  (2) The person or persons conducting the review shall assess whether the legislation referred to in subsection (1) provides Canadians with a transportation system that is consistent with the national transportation policy set out in section 5 and, if necessary or desirable, may recommend amendments to

  • (a) the national transportation policy; and

  • (b) the legislation referred to in subsection (1).

• Marginal note:Consultations

  (3) The review shall be undertaken in consultation with purchasers and suppliers of transportation services and any other persons whom the Minister considers appropriate.

• Marginal note:Powers on review

  (4) Every person appointed to carry out the review has, for the purposes of the review, the powers of a commissioner under Part I of the Inquiries Act and may engage the services of experts, professionals and other staff deemed necessary for making the review at the rates of remuneration that the Treasury Board approves.

• Marginal note:Report

  (5) The review shall be completed and a report of the review submitted to the Minister within 18 months after the appointment referred to in subsection (1).

• Marginal note:Tabling of report

  (6) The Minister shall have a copy of the report laid before each House of Parliament on any of the first thirty days on which that House is sitting after the Minister receives it.