Export Development Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. E-20)

Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Export Development Act.

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

2 In this Act,

Board

Board means the Board of Directors of the Corporation; (conseil)

body corporate

body corporate means an incorporated body wherever or however incorporated; (personne morale)

Chairman

Chairman[Repealed, 2001, c. 33, s. 3]

Chairperson

Chairperson means the Chairperson of the Board; (Version anglaise seulement)

Corporation

Corporation means Export Development Canada, the corporation established by section 3; (Société)

director

director means a director of the Corporation; (administrateur)

entity

entity means a body corporate, a trust, a partnership, a fund, an unincorporated association or organization, Her Majesty in right of Canada or of a province, an agency of Her Majesty in either of such rights and the government of a foreign country or any political subdivision thereof and any agency thereof; (entité)

Executive Committee

Executive Committee means the Executive Committee of the Board; (comité de direction)

Minister

Minister means such member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada as is designated by the Governor in Council as the Minister for the purposes of this Act; (ministre)

person

person means a natural person, an entity or a personal representative; (personne)

personal representative

personal representative means a person who stands in the place of and represents another person and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes, as the circumstances require, a trustee, an executor, an administrator, a committee, a guardian, a tutor, a curator, an assignee, a receiver, an agent and an attorney of any person; (représentant personnel)

President

President means the President of the Corporation; (président)

property

property includes money, goods, things in action, land and every description of property, whether real or personal, legal or equitable, and whether situated in Canada or elsewhere, and includes obligations, easements and every description of estate, interest and profit, present and future, vested or contingent, in, arising out of or incident to property; (biens)

security interest

security interest means an interest in or a charge on property by way of mortgage, lien, pledge or otherwise taken to secure the payment or performance of an obligation; (sûreté)

Vice-Chairman

Vice-Chairman[Repealed, 2001, c. 33, s. 3]

Vice-chairperson

Vice-chairperson means the Vice-chairperson of the Board. (Version anglaise seulement)

Corporation Established

Marginal note:Corporation established

3 A corporation is established, to be known as Export Development Canada, consisting of a Board of Directors composed of 13 directors, including a Chairperson and a President.

Marginal note:Appointment of directors

• 4 (1) Each director, other than the Chairperson and the President, shall be appointed by the Minister, with the approval of the Governor in Council, to hold office during pleasure for a term not exceeding four years that will ensure, as far as possible, the expiration in any one year of the terms of office of not more than one half of the directors.

• Marginal note:Appointment of Chairperson

  (2) The Chairperson shall be appointed by the Governor in Council to hold office during pleasure for such term as the Governor in Council considers appropriate.

• Marginal note:Vice-chairperson

  (3) The Board shall elect a Vice-chairperson of the Board from among the directors.

Marginal note:Alternate directors

5 The Governor in Council may appoint a person to be an alternate director for any director who is selected from among persons employed in the federal public administration and the alternate director so appointed shall act as a director during any period in which the director for whom he is an alternate is, by reason of absence or incapacity, unable to act.

Marginal note:Chairperson to preside at meetings

• 6 (1) The Chairperson shall preside at meetings of the Board and of the Executive Committee.

• Marginal note:Absence, etc., of Chairperson

  (2) In the event of the absence or incapacity of the Chairperson, or if the office of Chairperson is vacant, the Vice-chairperson shall perform the functions of the Chairperson during the absence, incapacity or vacancy.

• Marginal note:Absence, etc., of Chairperson and Vice-chairperson

  (3) Where the Vice-chairperson is, by reason of circumstances referred to in subsection (2), authorized by that subsection to act as Chairperson but the Vice-chairperson is himself absent or incapacitated or the office of Vice-chairperson is vacant, such of the other directors as are present at a meeting shall, if they constitute a quorum of the Board or of the Executive Committee, select a director to act as Chairperson and the director so selected shall perform the functions of the Chairperson until such time as the Chairperson or Vice-chairperson is available to perform them.

Committees of the Board

Marginal note:Executive Committee

• 7 (1) There shall be an Executive Committee of the Board consisting of the Chairperson and four other directors selected by the Board.

• Marginal note:Powers

  (2) The Executive Committee may exercise any powers and perform any duties of the Board delegated to it by the Board.

Marginal note:Other committees

7.1 The Board may establish any other committee and that committee may exercise any powers and perform any duties of the Board delegated to it by the Board.

President

Marginal note:Appointment of President

• 8 (1) The President shall be appointed by the Governor in Council to hold office during pleasure for such term as the Governor in Council considers appropriate.

• Marginal note:Management of Corporation vested in President

  (2) The President is the chief executive officer of the Corporation and has on behalf of the Board the direction and management of the business of the Corporation, with authority to act in the conduct of the business of the Corporation in all matters that are not by this Act or the by-laws of the Corporation specifically reserved to the Board or any committee of the Board.

• Marginal note:Absence or incapacity of President

  (3) In the event of the absence or incapacity of the President, or if the office of President is vacant, the Board shall authorize a director or an officer of the Corporation to act as the President for the time being and shall fix the terms and conditions of his appointment and his remuneration, but no person so authorized by the Board has authority to act as President for a period exceeding sixty days without the approval of the Governor in Council.

Salaries and Expenses

Marginal note:Salaries, etc., of directors

• 9 (1) Subject to subsection (2), each of the directors not selected from among persons employed in the federal public administration shall be paid by the Corporation such salary, fees or other remuneration as is fixed by the Governor in Council and each director is entitled to be paid by the Corporation reasonable travel and other expenses incurred by him in the course of his duties under this Act.

• Marginal note:Salaries

  (2) The Chairperson and, if the President is a person other than the Chairperson, the President shall be paid by the Corporation a salary to be fixed by the Governor in Council.

Purposes and Powers

Marginal note:Purposes

• 10 (1) The Corporation is established for the purposes of

  • (a) supporting and developing, directly or indirectly, domestic business, at the request of the Minister and the Minister of Finance for a period specified by those Ministers;

  • (b) supporting and developing, directly or indirectly, Canada’s export trade and Canadian capacity to engage in that trade and to respond to international business opportunities; and

  • (c) providing, directly or indirectly, development financing and other forms of development support in a manner that is consistent with Canada’s international development priorities.

• Marginal note:Publication in Canada Gazette

  (1.01) As soon as feasible after a request is made under paragraph (1)(a), the Minister shall publish in the Canada Gazette a notice of that fact as well as the dates on which the period to which the request relates begins and ends.

• Marginal note:Complementary to commercial products and services

  (1.02) The Corporation shall carry out its purposes, with regard to domestic business, in a manner that complements the products and services available from commercial financial institutions and commercial insurance providers.

• Marginal note:Powers

  (1.1) Subject to any regulations that may be made under subsection (6), in carrying out its purposes under subsection (1), the Corporation may

  • (a) acquire and dispose of any interest in any property by any means;

  • (b) enter into any arrangement that has the effect of providing, to any person, any insurance, reinsurance, indemnity or guarantee;

  • (c) enter into any arrangement that has the effect of extending credit to any person or providing an undertaking to pay money to any person;

  • (d) take any security interest in any property;

  • (e) prepare, compile, publish and distribute information and provide consulting services;

  • (f) procure the incorporation, dissolution or amalgamation of subsidiaries;

  • (g) acquire and dispose of any interest in any entity by any means;

  • (h) make any investment or enter into any transaction, including any transaction whose object is the management of portfolio risks, that is necessary or desirable for the financial management of the Corporation;

  • (i) act as agent for any person or authorize any person to act as agent for the Corporation;

  • (j) take such steps and do all such things as to it appear necessary or desirable to protect the interests of the Corporation; and

  • (k) generally, do all such other things as are incidental or conducive to the exercise of its powers, the performance of its functions and the conduct of its business.

• Marginal note:Use of services and facilities of departments, etc.

  (2) In exercising its powers under this Act, the Corporation shall, where appropriate, make use of the services and facilities of departments, boards and agencies of the Government of Canada.

• Marginal note:Limit of liability

  (3) Subject to subsection (4), the contingent liability of the Corporation in respect of the principal amount owing under all outstanding arrangements entered into under paragraph (1.1)(b) shall at no time exceed

  • (a) for the period beginning on the day on which this subsection comes into force and ending on September 30, 2020, the amount that the Minister of Finance determines during that period, or, if that Minister redetermines the amount during that period, the most recently determined amount; and

  • (b) on and after October 1, 2020, an amount equal to the amount determined by the Minister of Finance under paragraph (a), or, if that Minister redetermined the amount under that paragraph, an amount equal to the last amount so determined.

• Marginal note:Publication in Canada Gazette

  (3.1) As soon as feasible after determining or redetermining an amount under paragraph (3)(a), the Minister of Finance shall publish a notice of that amount in the Canada Gazette.

• Marginal note:Exclusion

  (4) The amount of the contingent liability referred to in subsection (3) that the Corporation has insured or reinsured or with respect to which the Corporation has a right, by agreement, to be indemnified shall not be taken into account in calculating the contingent liability under that subsection.

• Marginal note:Minister of Finance may prescribe conditions

  (5) The Corporation shall, in exercising the powers conferred on it by paragraph (1.1)(h), comply with such conditions of general application as the Minister of Finance may prescribe.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (6) The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister and the Minister of Finance, make regulations governing

  • (a) the disposal by sale or lease of property acquired by the Corporation for the purpose of such disposal;

  • (b) the entering into by the Corporation of arrangements that

    • (i) have the effect of

      • (A) providing, to any person, any insurance, reinsurance, indemnity or guarantee,

      • (B) extending credit to any person, or

      • (C) providing an undertaking to pay money to any person, and

    • (ii) are made in respect of transactions not relating, directly or indirectly, to the carrying on of business or other activities outside Canada;

  • (c) the entering into by the Corporation of arrangements that have the effect of extending credit to a person in respect of the acquisition by that person of any interest, other than a security interest, in any entity;

  • (d) the entering into by the Corporation of arrangements that have the effect of providing to a person any insurance, indemnity or guarantee, in respect of the financing, by that person, of an acquisition by another person of any interest, other than a security interest, in any entity;

  • (e) the provision by the Corporation of consulting services on a fee basis; and

  • (f) the acquisition by the Corporation of any interest, other than a security interest or an interest resulting from the realization of a security interest, in any entity.

• Marginal note:Approval

  (7) For greater certainty, the regulations made pursuant to subsection (6) may specify that certain transactions or classes of transactions of the Corporation require the approval of the Minister, the Minister jointly with the Minister of Finance, or the Governor in Council and, where so specified, the Minister, the Minister jointly with the Minister of Finance, or the Governor in Council is authorized to give that approval.

• Marginal note:Publication of proposed regulations

  (8) Subject to subsection (9), the Minister shall cause to be published in the Canada Gazette at least sixty days before the proposed effective date thereof a copy of every regulation that the Governor in Council proposes to make under this Act and a reasonable opportunity shall be afforded to interested persons to make representations with respect thereto.

• Marginal note:Exceptions

  (9) The Minister is not required to cause to be published a proposed regulation if the proposed regulation

  • (a) has been published pursuant to subsection (8) whether or not it has been amended as a result of representations made by interested persons as provided in that subsection; or

  • (b) in the opinion of the Minister, makes no material substantive change in an existing regulation.