Canada Post Corporation Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-10)

Exclusive Privilege of Corporation

Marginal note:Exclusive privilege

• 14 (1) Subject to section 15, the Corporation has the sole and exclusive privilege of collecting, transmitting and delivering letters to the addressee thereof within Canada.

• Marginal note:Other mail

  (2) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as requiring any person to transmit by post any newspaper, magazine, book, catalogue or goods.

Marginal note:Exception

• 15 (1) The exclusive privilege referred to in subsection 14(1) does not apply to

  • (a) letters carried incidentally and delivered to the addressee thereof by a friend of the sender or addressee;

  • (b) commissions, affidavits, writs, processes or proceedings issued by a court of justice;

  • (c) letters lawfully brought into Canada and forthwith posted thereafter;

  • (d) letters concerning goods for delivery therewith, carried by a common carrier without pay, reward, advantage or profit for so doing;

  • (e) letters of an urgent nature that are transmitted by a messenger for a fee at least equal to an amount that is three times the regular rate of postage payable for delivery in Canada of similarly addressed letters weighing fifty grams;

  • (f) letters of any merchant or owner of a cargo vessel or the cargo therein that are carried by such vessel or by any employee of such merchant or owner and delivered to the addressee thereof without pay, reward, advantage or profit for so doing;

  • (g) letters concerning the affairs of an organization that are transmitted between offices of that organization by an employee thereof;

  • (h) letters in the course of transmission by any electronic or optical means; and

  • (i) letters transmitted by any naval, army or air forces of any foreign country that are in Canada with the consent of the Government of Canada.

• Marginal note:Collection

  (2) Nothing in subsection (1) shall be construed as authorizing any person to collect or receive any letters for the purpose of transmitting or delivering them as described in that subsection.

• Marginal note:Letters to foreign addressees

  (3) The exclusive privilege referred to in subsection 14(1) does not apply to letters intended for delivery to an addressee outside Canada.

Powers

Marginal note:Powers of Corporation

• 16 (1) In carrying out its objects and duties under this Act, the Corporation has the capacity, and subject to this Act, the rights, powers and privileges of a natural person.

• Marginal note:Property

  (2) Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), the Corporation may acquire, hold, lease, sell or dispose of any real or personal property.

Marginal note:Administration of oaths

17 The Corporation may, in any case or class of cases approved by the Governor in Council, empower any officer of the Corporation to administer oaths and take and receive affidavits, declarations and affirmations for any purpose relating or incidental to the administration or enforcement of this Act or the regulations.

Marginal note:Postal inspectors

18 The Corporation may designate any employee of the Corporation as a postal inspector with the duty to provide for the security of the officers and employees of the Corporation, the property of the Corporation and anything in the course of post.

Regulations

Marginal note:Regulations

• 19 (1) The Corporation may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, make regulations for the efficient operation of the business of the Corporation and for carrying the purposes and provisions of this Act into effect, and, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, may make regulations

  • (a) prescribing, for the purposes of this Act and the regulations, what is a letter and what is non-mailable matter and undeliverable mail, other than undeliverable letters, and providing for the disposition of non-mailable matter, undeliverable mail and mail on which sufficient postage is not paid, including the disposition of anything found therein;

  • (b) classifying mailable matter, including the setting of standards for any class thereof;

  • (c) prescribing the conditions under which mailable matter may be transmitted by post;

  • (d) prescribing rates of postage and the terms and conditions and method of payment thereof;

  • (e) providing for the reduction of rates of postage on mailable matter prepared in the manner prescribed by the regulations;

  • (f) providing for the refund of postage;

  • (g) providing for the transmission by post, free of postage, of

    • (i) letters, books, tapes, records and other similar material for the use of the blind, and

    • (ii) mailable matter relating solely to the business of the Corporation and addressed to or sent by a person engaged in that business;

  • (g.1) providing for a reduced rate of postage for library materials lent by a library to a borrower, including by means of an interlibrary loan;

  • (h) providing for the holding of mail by the Corporation at the request of the sender or addressee thereof or in any other circumstances specified in the regulations;

  • (i) providing for the insurance of mail and the payment of indemnity by the Corporation in case of loss of or damage to mail;

  • (j) [Repealed before coming into force, 2008, c. 20, s. 3]

  • (k) governing the design, placement and use of any receptacle or device intended for the posting, insertion, reception, storage, transmission or delivery of mailable matter;

  • (l) regulating or prohibiting the installation of machines for vending postage stamps, postal remittances or other products or services of the Corporation;

  • (m) regulating or prohibiting the manufacture, installation and use of postage meters;

  • (n) regulating or prohibiting the making or printing of postage stamps;

  • (o) governing the preparation, design and issue of postage stamps;

  • (p) providing for the closure of post offices, the termination of rural routes and the termination of letter carrier routes;

  • (q) carrying out any international postal agreement or international arrangement entered into pursuant to this Act;

  • (r) dealing with any matter that any provision of this Act contemplates being the subject of regulations; and

  • (s) providing for the operation of any services or systems established pursuant to this Act.

• Marginal note:Fair and reasonable

  (2) The rates of postage prescribed pursuant to subsection (1) shall be fair and reasonable and consistent so far as possible with providing a revenue, together with any revenue from other sources, sufficient to defray the costs incurred by the Corporation in the conduct of its operations under this Act.

• Marginal note:Compensation

  (3) The Governor in Council may make regulations providing for the payment of compensation to the Corporation in respect of materials for the use of the blind transmitted in accordance with regulations made pursuant to subparagraph (1)(g)(i).

Marginal note:Publication of proposed regulation

• 20 (1) Subject to subsection (2), a copy of each regulation that the Corporation proposes to make under subsection 19(1) shall be published in the Canada Gazette and a reasonable opportunity shall be afforded to interested persons to make representations to the Minister with respect thereto.

• Marginal note:Single publication sufficient

  (2) No proposed regulation need be published more than once under subsection (1) whether or not it is amended after such publication as a result of representations made by interested persons as provided in that subsection.

• Marginal note:Submission to Governor in Council

  (3) Where a proposed regulation has been published pursuant to subsection (1) and has not been withdrawn by the Corporation within sixty days after such publication, the Minister shall forthwith thereafter submit the regulation or, if the regulation has been amended by the Corporation, the amended regulation, to the Governor in Council for consideration.

• Marginal note:Action on receipt of regulation

  (4) Forthwith after receiving a regulation made pursuant to subsection 19(1) for submission to the Governor in Council for consideration, the Clerk of the Privy Council shall send to the Corporation a letter acknowledging his receipt of the regulation and indicating the date of such receipt.

• Marginal note:Presumption

  (5) Every regulation made pursuant to subsection 19(1) is deemed to have been approved by the Governor in Council sixty days after the day it is received by the Clerk of the Privy Council for submission to the Governor in Council for consideration, unless the Governor in Council has previously approved or refused to approve the regulation.

Marginal note:Setting of postage otherwise than by regulation

21 Notwithstanding subsection 19(1) or any regulation made pursuant to that subsection, the Corporation may prescribe rates of postage otherwise than by regulation for any person who has entered into an agreement with the Corporation for

• (a) the variation of rates of postage on the mailable matter of that person in consideration of his mailing in bulk, preparing the mailable matter in a manner that facilitates the processing thereof or receiving additional services in relation thereto; or

• (b) the provision of experimental services related to the business of the Corporation for any period not exceeding three years.

Marginal note:Library book rate

21.1 The Corporation may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, enter into an agreement with Her Majesty in right of Canada to continue the reduced rate of postage for library books.

Reports

Marginal note:Ten-year review

• 21.2 (1) Five years after this Act comes into force, and every ten years thereafter, the Minister must have a review undertaken of the definition library material and of the operation of paragraph 19(1)(g.1).

• Marginal note:Report to Parliament

  (2) Within one year after the review is undertaken, the Minister must submit to Parliament a report on the review.

• Marginal note:Reference to parliamentary committee

  (3) The report stands referred to the committee of the House of Commons, or of both Houses of Parliament, that is designated or established for that purpose, which shall

  • (a) as soon as possible thereafter, review the report; and

  • (b) report to the House of Commons, or to both Houses of Parliament, within one year after the laying of the report of the Minister or any further time that the House of Commons, or both Houses of Parliament, may authorize.

Directives

Marginal note:Directives

• 22 (1) In the exercise of its powers and the performance of its duties, the Corporation shall comply with such directives as the Minister may give to it.

• Marginal note:Application of Financial Administration Act

  (2) Subsections 89(2) to (6) and section 153 of the Financial Administration Act apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, to a directive given under subsection (1) as though it were a directive referred to in those provisions.

• Marginal note:Compensation

  (3) Where the Governor in Council is satisfied that the Corporation has sustained or is likely to sustain financial loss in complying with any directive given to it under subsection (1) or section 89 of the Financial Administration Act, he may compensate the Corporation for that loss and for that purpose he may

  • (a) require an audit of the books and records of the Corporation to determine the amount of the loss;

  • (b) determine the amount of the compensation that may be paid or the manner of calculating such amount, including the setting of a maximum amount; and

  • (c) determine the manner in which and the time when the compensation may be paid.

• Marginal note:Appropriation

  (4) The amount of any compensation under this section shall be paid out of moneys appropriated by Parliament therefor.

• Marginal note:Tabling in Parliament

  (5) The Minister shall cause an estimate of any increased costs or losses likely to be incurred by the Corporation as a result of complying with any directive given to it under subsection (1) or section 89 of the Financial Administration Act to be laid before Parliament on any of the first fifteen days that either House of Parliament is sitting after the day the directive was so given.

Status of Corporation

Marginal note:Agent of Her Majesty

23 The Corporation is, for the purposes of this Act, an agent of Her Majesty in right of Canada.

Marginal note:Contracts

24 The Corporation may enter into contracts with Her Majesty as though it were not an agent of Her Majesty.

Marginal note:Winding-up

25 No Act relating to the winding-up of a corporation applies in respect of the Corporation and in no case shall the affairs of the Corporation be wound up unless Parliament so provides.

Marginal note:Public Servants Inventions Act

26 Notwithstanding section 9 of the Public Servants Inventions Act, the administration and control of any invention made by an officer or employee of the Corporation and vested in Her Majesty by that Act and any patent issued with respect thereto are vested in the Corporation, and any money received by the Corporation in the course of the administration and control of the invention or patent may be retained by the Corporation and used for its own purposes.

Marginal note:Canada Business Corporations Act

• 27 (1) The definitions “beneficial ownership”, “debt obligation”, “redeemable share”, “security”, “security interest” and “special resolution” in subsection 2(1) and sections 23 to 26, 34, 36 to 38 (except subsection 38(6)), 42, 43, 50, 172 and 257 of the Canada Business Corporations Act apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, in respect of the Corporation as if the references therein to articles were references to the by-laws of the Corporation.

• Marginal note:Assets of Corporation

  (2) For the purposes of applying subsections 34(2), 36(2) and 38(3) and section 42 of the Canada Business Corporations Act in respect of the Corporation, the assets held by the Corporation as an agent of Her Majesty in right of Canada shall be deemed to be assets of the Corporation.