High-Speed Rail Network Act (S.C. 2026, c. 3, s. 191)

Marginal note:Entry for verification or appraisal

• 14 (1) If a notice of prohibition on work is registered, any person authorized in writing by the appropriate Minister may, at any reasonable time on notice to any person in or on the land that is subject to the notice, enter into or on that land for the purpose of verifying compliance with section 13 or for the purpose of making an appraisal of the value of the land.

• Marginal note:Offence

  (2) Everyone who prevents any person from or obstructs or hinders any person in doing anything that they are authorized by subsection (1) to do is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Due diligence defence

  (3) A person is not to be found guilty of an offence under subsection (2) if they establish that they exercised due diligence to prevent the commission of the offence.

Marginal note:Deleting notice

• 15 (1) If the Minister notifies the appropriate Minister that the Corporation is of the opinion that land that is subject to a notice of prohibition on work should no longer be subject to the notice, the appropriate Minister must, as soon as feasible, cause the notice to be deleted from the office in which it was registered and send, by registered mail or by email, the owner of the land and any lessee or occupant who received a copy of the notice under subsection 12(7) a notice that the appropriate Minister has taken the steps necessary to cause the notice of prohibition on work to be deleted.

• Marginal note:Deleting notice — ceases to have effect

  (2) If the notice of prohibition on work ceases to have effect on the fourth anniversary of the day on which it is registered, the appropriate Minister must, as soon as feasible after the notice ceases to have effect, cause the notice to be deleted from the office in which it was registered and send, by registered mail or by email, the owner and any lessee or occupant who received a copy of the notice under subsection 12(7) a notice that the appropriate Minister has taken the steps necessary to cause the notice of prohibition on work to be deleted.

Marginal note:Compensation

• 16 (1) If the notice of prohibition on work ceases to have effect on the fourth anniversary of the day on which it is registered or on the date of the notice sent under subsection 15(1), the Crown must pay to any person who was — at the time the notice of prohibition on work is registered — an owner of the land that is subject to the notice or a lessee or occupant of that land the amount of any actual loss sustained by them during the period that begins on the day on which the notice is registered and ends on the day before the day on which it ceases to have effect, as a result of the notice having been registered, if the owner, lessee or occupant

  • (a) submits to the appropriate Minister a claim, in writing, for compensation within one year from the date on which the notice ceases to have effect; and

  • (b) provides that Minister with information in support of their claim.

• Marginal note:Costs

  (2) If the Crown pays compensation to an owner, lessee or occupant under subsection (1), it must pay the owner, lessee or occupant an amount equal to the legal, appraisal and other costs that, in the opinion of the Crown, they reasonably incurred in asserting their claim for that compensation.

Expropriation

Marginal note:Deemed railway company

• 17 (1) The Corporation is deemed to be a railway company, as defined in section 87 of the Canada Transportation Act, for the purposes of section 4.1 of the Expropriation Act.

• Marginal note:Previous attempt to purchase not required

  (2) Despite subsection 4.1(1) of the Expropriation Act, the Corporation is not required to have attempted to purchase an interest or right required for the high-speed rail network before it requests to have the interest or right expropriated.

• Marginal note:Expropriation

  (3) Despite subsections 4.1(2) and (3) of the Expropriation Act, if the Minister is of the opinion that an interest in land or an immovable real right is required by the Corporation for the purpose of a railway that is to be part of the high-speed rail network, the appropriate Minister

  • (a) is deemed to be of the opinion that the interest or right is required by the Crown for a public work or other public purpose; and

  • (b) must have the interest in land or immovable real right expropriated.

Marginal note:Non-application

• 18 (1) Sections 8 and 11 of the Expropriation Act do not apply in respect of a notice of intention to expropriate an interest or right required for the high-speed rail network.

• Marginal note:Non-application — objections

  (2) Sections 9 and 10 of the Expropriation Act do not apply in respect of objections to an intended expropriation of an interest or right required for the high-speed rail network.

Marginal note:Appropriate Minister’s obligations

• 19 (1) If a notice of intention to expropriate an interest or right required for the high-speed rail network is registered under subsection 5(2) of the Expropriation Act, the appropriate Minister must

  • (a) cause a copy of the notice of intention to expropriate to be sent by registered mail or by email to each of the persons whose names are set out in the report of the Attorney General of Canada referred to in subsection 5(2) of that Act, as soon as feasible after the registration of that notice;

  • (b) cause the notice of intention to expropriate, or an abbreviated form of that notice, to be published in the Canada Gazette, immediately after causing a copy of the notice of intention to expropriate to be sent under paragraph (a); and

  • (c) immediately after the notice is published under paragraph (b), cause a copy of it to be published in at least one issue of a publication, if any, in general circulation within the area in which the land is situated or otherwise make it available to the public.

• Marginal note:Abbreviated notice of intention

  (2) The abbreviated form of the notice of intention to expropriate must include

  • (a) a statement that a notice of intention to expropriate was registered;

  • (b) the date on which the notice of intention to expropriate was registered and its registration number;

  • (c) the name of the city, town, municipality or other organized district in which the land that is subject to the notice of intention to expropriate is situated; and

  • (d) any additional information that the appropriate Minister considers appropriate.

• Marginal note:Statement of right to object

  (3) Both forms of a notice of intention to expropriate must also include a statement of a person’s right to object under section 21 and the manner in which the person may exercise that right.

Marginal note:Omission, misstatement or erroneous description

20 If a notice of intention to expropriate an interest or right required for the high-speed rail network, or an abbreviated form of that notice, published in the Canada Gazette contains an omission, misstatement or erroneous description, the appropriate Minister may cause a corrected notice to be published in the Canada Gazette, in which case the corrected notice is deemed to have been published on the day on which the original notice was published.

Marginal note:Objections

21 Any person who objects to an intended expropriation of an interest or right required for the high-speed rail network may, within 30 days after the day on which the notice, or an abbreviated form of that notice, is published in the Canada Gazette, serve on the appropriate Minister an objection in writing stating their name and address and indicating the nature of their objection, the grounds on which it is based and the nature of their interest in the matter of the intended expropriation.

Marginal note:Confirmation or abandonment of intention

• 22 (1) If the appropriate Minister caused a notice of intention to expropriate an interest or right required for the high-speed rail network, or an abbreviated form of that notice, to be published in the Canada Gazette, that Minister may, after the expiry of the period referred to in section 21, confirm the intention under section 14 of the Expropriation Act or abandon the intention.

• Marginal note:Reasons

  (2) If the appropriate Minister confirms the intention, they must, on the written request of a person who served an objection on them, provide the person with a statement of the appropriate Minister’s reasons for not giving effect to the objection.

• Marginal note:Deemed abandonment of intention

  (3) If the appropriate Minister has not confirmed the intention within two years from the day on which the notice, or an abbreviated form of that notice, is published in the Canada Gazette, the appropriate Minister is deemed to have abandoned the intention.

• Marginal note:More limited interest or right

  (4) If, at the time of confirming the intention, the appropriate Minister is of the opinion that a more limited interest or right is required by the Crown for a railway that is to be a part of the high-speed rail network, that Minister may confirm the intention to expropriate the more limited interest or right under section 14 of the Expropriation Act, in which case that Minister is deemed to have abandoned the intention to expropriate the remainder of the interest or right.

• Marginal note:Notice of right of first refusal

  (5) If a notice of abandonment of the intention to expropriate land is registered under paragraph 12(1)(b) of the Expropriation Act and that land is subject to a notice of right of first refusal registered under subsection 8(1), the Corporation must cause the notice of right of first refusal to be deleted from the office in which it was registered and send, by registered mail or by email, to the owner of the land a notice that it has taken the steps necessary to cause that notice to be deleted.

• Marginal note:Notice of prohibition on work

  (6) If a notice of abandonment of the intention to expropriate land is registered under paragraph 12(1)(b) of the Expropriation Act and the land is subject to a notice of prohibition on work, the appropriate Minister must cause the notice of prohibition on work to be deleted from the office in which it was registered and send, by registered mail or by email, the owner of the land and any lessee or occupant who received a copy of the notice under subsection 12(7) a notice that the appropriate Minister has taken the steps necessary to cause the notice of prohibition on work to be deleted.

Marginal note:Market value — exceptions

23 In determining, under section 26 of the Expropriation Act, the value of an expropriated interest or right, as defined in subsection 2(1) of that Act, no account is to be taken of any increase in the value of that expropriated interest or right resulting from work undertaken in contravention of section 13.

Property of the Corporation

Marginal note:Disposal or lease

24 Subsection 99(2) of the Financial Administration Act does not apply in respect of any sale or other disposal or lease of property held by the Corporation.

Indigenous Knowledge

Marginal note:Confidentiality

• 25 (1) Any Indigenous knowledge that is provided to the Minister, the appropriate Minister or the Corporation in relation to the high-speed rail network in confidence is confidential and must not knowingly be, or be permitted to be, disclosed without written consent.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Despite subsection (1), the Indigenous knowledge referred to in that subsection may be disclosed if

  • (a) it is publicly available; or

  • (b) the disclosure is necessary for the purposes of procedural fairness and natural justice or for use in legal proceedings.

• Marginal note:Consultation

  (3) Before disclosing Indigenous knowledge under paragraph (2)(b) for the purposes of procedural fairness and natural justice, the Minister, the appropriate Minister or the Corporation, as the case may be, must consult the individual or entity who provided the Indigenous knowledge and the individual or entity to whom it is proposed to be disclosed about the scope of the proposed disclosure and potential conditions that may be imposed under subsection (4).

• Marginal note:Further disclosure

  (4) The Minister, the appropriate Minister or the Corporation, as the case may be, may, having regard to the consultation referred to in subsection (3), impose conditions with respect to the disclosure of the Indigenous knowledge by any individual or entity to whom it is disclosed under paragraph (2)(b) for the purposes of procedural fairness and natural justice.

• Marginal note:Duty to comply

  (5) The individual or entity must comply with any conditions imposed by the Minister, the appropriate Minister or the Corporation.

• Marginal note:Immunity

  (6) Despite any other Act of Parliament, the Minister, the appropriate Minister or the Corporation — or any person acting on behalf of, or under the direction of any of them — and the Crown, in respect of the disclosure of any Indigenous knowledge under this Act or any consequences that flow from that disclosure, do not incur

  • (a) civil liability, unless it is established that they acted in bad faith; or

  • (b) criminal liability, unless it is shown that their conduct was not reasonable in the circumstances.