Energy Supplies Emergency Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. E-9)

Marginal note:Amending program

• 20 (1) The Governor in Council may, by order, amend a mandatory allocation program

  • (a) by providing that its operation be extended to other regions or all regions of Canada, or that its operation be reduced by excluding regions from the operation of the program;

  • (b) by adding any petroleum product to the program or removing any controlled product from the program; and

  • (c) by changing the priorities of use or supply, or both, of a controlled product and the outline of the system for allocation of supplies of a controlled product as set out or outlined at the commencement of the program.

• Marginal note:Other related products

  (2) The Governor in Council may, by order, add any product that is manufactured wholly or in part from petroleum to the mandatory allocation program and thereupon that product becomes a controlled product for the purpose of the allocation of the supplies thereof in Canada.

21 [Repealed, R.S., 1985, c. 22 (4th Supp.), s. 68]

Marginal note:Allocation of alternative fuels

• 22 (1) Where it is considered necessary to do so for the purpose of conserving the available supplies of such petroleum products as have been included in a mandatory allocation program, the Governor in Council may, by order, amend the mandatory allocation program by adding any alternative fuel thereto and establishing mandatory allocation thereof.

• Marginal note:Application of Act

  (2) When an alternative fuel has been added to the mandatory allocation program, this Act applies, with such modifications as the circumstances require, in respect of the alternative fuel to the like extent as if that alternative fuel were a petroleum product.

• Marginal note:Definition of “alternative fuel”

  (3) In this section, alternative fuel means natural gas and any product obtained therefrom that is capable of being used as a fuel and coal and any product obtained therefrom that is capable of being so used.

Marginal note:Supporting activities

23 Instead of including an alternative fuel, as defined in section 22, within a mandatory allocation program under this Act, the Board may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, enter into arrangements with provincial authorities whereby the alternative fuel will be regulated as to allocation of supply and pricing within the provinces in such manner as will best conserve the supplies within Canada of petroleum products.

Marginal note:Electric power

24 The Board may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, enter into arrangements with provincial authorities for the regulation and pricing by those provincial authorities of the supplies of electric power produced or used within a province for the purpose of reducing the demands on the available supplies within Canada of a petroleum product.

Marginal note:Regulations

• 25 (1) With the approval of the Governor in Council, the Board may make such regulations as may be necessary in the opinion of the Board to carry out effectively a mandatory allocation program for any controlled product and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, may make regulations

  • (a) authorizing the Board to prescribe by order the dates when the allocation of supplies of a particular controlled product will commence;

  • (b) respecting the manner in which available supplies of a controlled product are to be determined and apportioned to wholesale customers;

  • (c) respecting the assigning of suppliers for wholesale customers and the extent to which those assigned suppliers must supply the wholesale customers with any controlled product;

  • (d) respecting the accumulation, storage and disposal of reserve supplies and inventory of any controlled product;

  • (e) respecting the supplying of information relating to past, present and forecast sales and purchases of the controlled product by suppliers and wholesale customers;

  • (f) respecting the keeping of accounts relating to the sales and purchases of any controlled product by suppliers and wholesale customers, and the making of those accounts available to the Board and its agents or mandataries;

  • (g) respecting the prohibiting or limiting of the sale of a controlled product by or to, or the purchase of a controlled product by, a wholesale customer in cases where the controlled product may be used in a wasteful or non-essential use and prescribing wasteful and non-essential uses of the controlled product;

  • (h) respecting the quality characteristics required of any controlled product being supplied to a class of wholesale customers or for a particular use;

  • (i) respecting such modification or revocation of existing contracts for the supply of any controlled product by suppliers and wholesale customers as may be necessary to make an allocation of supplies of the controlled product effective, and providing a means of determining what type of supply contract should be modified or revoked and in what circumstances;

  • (j) respecting the transfer of supplies of any controlled product between suppliers and between suppliers and wholesale customers and the transfer of wholesale customers between suppliers to achieve an equitable balance of sales among suppliers or to preserve the existing market position of suppliers in so far as practicable;

  • (k) respecting pooling and other arrangements that may be made by and between suppliers to supply wholesale customers for which those suppliers may have allocation obligations, and providing guidelines therefor in respect of price, quality and quantity provisions in contracts affected by those arrangements;

  • (l) respecting the prices at which any controlled product may be sold by suppliers to wholesale customers in particular market areas or generally and the charges for transportation between market areas except for transportation by means of a pipeline in respect of which there is in force a certificate or other authority to operate a pipeline issued under the Canadian Energy Regulator Act;

  • (m) determining market areas for any controlled product;

  • (n) respecting credit terms or payment schedules for wholesale customers required to assure the continuance, as nearly as may be, of the normal business practices of suppliers of any controlled product in a market area during the period of mandatory allocation of the controlled product;

  • (o) authorizing the reduction or withholding by suppliers of supplies of any controlled product to wholesale customers until any orders of the Board made pursuant to any regulations have been complied with;

  • (p) respecting the amelioration of hardship in particular cases arising out of inequities in or distortions of the allocation of supplies of any controlled product because of special circumstances;

  • (q) ensuring, in so far as practicable, the maintenance of supplies of the controlled product to independent retailers of that product consistent with any priorities of use established by the Board;

  • (r) providing for the making by the Board of such orders as may be necessary to effect any of the purposes for which regulations may be made under this section; and

  • (s) respecting such other matters or things, whether or not of a like kind to those referred to in paragraphs (a) to (r), as the Board considers necessary for the purpose of carrying out a mandatory allocation program for a controlled product.

• Marginal note:Extent of authority

  (2) A regulation under this Act may be conditional or unconditional, qualified or unqualified, and may be general or restricted to a specified area or a specified controlled product, a specified supplier or wholesale customer or a specified mediate or immediate use of a controlled product.

Marginal note:Regulating imports

• 26 (1) Where the Governor in Council considers it expedient to do so, he may order the Board to regulate the importation of any controlled product into Canada indefinitely or for such period as may be specified in the order.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (2) For the purpose of carrying out an order under subsection (1), the Board may make regulations

  • (a) respecting the quantities and qualities of any controlled product imported or to be imported during such periods as may be prescribed by the Board;

  • (b) respecting the storage of imported supplies of any controlled product in market areas; and

  • (c) respecting such other matters or things in relation to the importation of the controlled product as may be necessary to support a mandatory allocation program for the controlled product.

• Marginal note:Consultation with Canadian Energy Regulator

  (3) Before making regulations under this section, the Board shall consult with the Canadian Energy Regulator to determine the extent to which that Board is regulating the importation of the controlled product in respect of which regulations are to be made under this section.

Marginal note:Regulating exports

• 27 (1) Where the Governor in Council considers it expedient to do so, he may order the Board to regulate the export of any controlled product indefinitely or for such period as may be specified in the order.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (2) For the purpose of carrying out an order under subsection (1), the Board may make regulations

  • (a) respecting the quantities and qualities of any controlled product to be exported during such period as may be prescribed by the Board; and

  • (b) respecting such other matters or things in relation to the export of the controlled product as may be necessary to support a mandatory allocation program for the controlled product.

• Marginal note:Consultation

  (3) Before making regulations under this section, the Board shall consult with the Canadian Energy Regulator to determine the extent to which that latter Board is then regulating the export of the controlled product in respect of which regulations are to be made under this section.

Marginal note:Conflict

28 Where there is a conflict between any regulation made under this Act and any provision of the Canadian Energy Regulator Act or any regulation made thereunder, the regulation under this Act prevails.

PART IIRationing of Controlled Products

Marginal note:Consumer and other rationing

• 29 (1) Where the Governor in Council considers that the available supplies of a controlled product are or are likely to be in such short supply as to cause the mandatory allocation program to fail unless additional measures are taken, the Governor in Council may order the Board to extend the mandatory allocation program in respect of that controlled product by converting it into a program requiring that the purchase and sale of the controlled product at any or all levels, including the level of the final consumer or user, be made in such quantities, by such persons and for such uses as may be authorized by the Board on documentary evidence issued by the Board.

• (2) [Repealed, R.S., 1985, c. 22 (4th Supp.), s. 70]

Marginal note:Regulations

30 For the purpose of implementing an order under section 29, the Board may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, make regulations

• (a) extending the mandatory allocation program established pursuant to Part I and converting it into a rationing program in respect of one or more controlled products;

• (b) applying mandatory allocation of the supplies of the controlled product to retailers and retail customers under the rationing program;

• (c) establishing categories of consumers of the controlled product and determining priorities of supply in respect of each category of consumer;

• (d) establishing categories of use of the controlled product and providing for the prohibition or limiting of the supply of the controlled product to any categories of consumers or categories of uses;

• (e) respecting the rationing of consumers by the issuing of coupons, permits or other written authority to sell or purchase quantities of the controlled product and the quantities to be made available within any period or periods of time to various categories of consumers;

• (f) respecting the compiling of an inventory of the supplies of the controlled product held by retailers from time to time;

• (g) respecting the establishment of local, regional and central rationing boards to supervise and administer the rationing program in the various parts of Canada;

• (h) respecting the printing and distribution of written authorizations, coupons, permits, tickets or other documents required for the rationing program and the prices at which any of those printed materials may be sold and providing for the use to be made of the services of any department or agency of the Government of Canada in distributing, returning and accounting for any of those printed materials;

• (i) respecting the keeping of accounts relating to sales and purchases of any controlled product and the making of those accounts available to the Board and its agents or mandataries;

• (j) respecting the prices at which any controlled product may be sold to retailers and to the customers of retailers;

• (k) providing for the making by the Board of such orders as may be necessary to effect any of the purposes for which regulations may be made under this section;

• (l) notwithstanding anything in any other Act, authorizing and empowering banks to which the Bank Act applies, trust companies to which the Trust Companies Act applies and such other financial institutions as are specified in the regulations to perform such functions and duties relating to the administration and enforcement of an order made under section 29 as are specified in the regulations; and

• (m) respecting such other matters or things, whether or not of a like kind to those referred to in paragraphs (a) to (l), as the Board considers necessary for the purpose of carrying out a rationing program.

PART IIIGeneral and Administration

Contractual Obligations

Marginal note:Contracts

• 31 (1) Where pursuant to a regulation under this Act any person is required to do or to omit to do anything contrary to the terms and conditions of any contract entered into by that person, the contract is modified to the extent necessary to enable compliance to be made with the requirements of the regulation.

• Marginal note:Frustration

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply in circumstances where the modification to a contract, except to the extent that it would change the price at which a controlled product may or is to be sold under the contract, would impose on the parties a contract fundamentally different from that which they entered into.

• Marginal note:Defence

  (3) Without precluding any other defence available in law, it is a good defence to any action brought in any court for breach of contract

  • (a) arising out of a delay or a failure to provide, sell or offer for sale or exchange any product, or

  • (b) arising out of a delay or a failure to provide any service

  that the delay or failure was caused solely by compliance with a regulation under this Act or with an order made by any authority pursuant to a direction of the Board under this Act.