Department of Transport Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. T-18)

Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Department of Transport Act.

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

2 In this Act,

canal

canal means every canal and lock that belongs to Canada and includes every canal and lock acquired, constructed, extended, enlarged, repaired or improved at the expense of Canada, or for the acquisition, construction, repairing, extending, enlarging or improving of which any public money is voted and appropriated by Parliament, except works for which money has been appropriated as a subsidy only, and all works and property appertaining or incidental to such a canal or that are placed under the management, charge and direction or the control of the Minister of Transport by the Governor in Council; (canaux)

railway

railway means every railway and the rolling stock thereon that belongs to Canada, and includes every railway and the rolling stock thereon acquired, constructed, extended, enlarged, repaired or improved at the expense of Canada, or for the acquisition, construction, repairing, extending, enlarging or improving of which any public money is voted and appropriated by Parliament, except works for which money has been appropriated as a subsidy only, and all works and property appertaining or incidental to such a railway, or that are placed under the management, charge and direction or the control of the Minister of Transport by the Governor in Council. (chemins de fer)

Establishment of the Department

Marginal note:Department established

• 3 (1) There is hereby established a department of the Government of Canada called the Department of Transport over which the Minister of Transport appointed by commission under the Great Seal shall preside.

• Marginal note:Minister

  (2) The Minister holds office during pleasure and has the management and direction of the Department.

Marginal note:Deputy head

4 The Governor in Council may appoint an officer called the Deputy Minister of Transport to hold office during pleasure and to be the deputy head of the Department.

Marginal note:Secretary of the Department

• 5 (1) A secretary of the Department may be appointed, in the manner authorized by law, to hold office during pleasure.

• Marginal note:Acting Secretary

  (2) In case of the absence of the Secretary or of the Secretary’s inability to act, the Minister may, in writing, authorize any other officer of the Department to act as Secretary.

Marginal note:Duties of Secretary

6 The Secretary shall, unless otherwise directed in any case by the Minister,

• (a) keep separate accounts of the moneys appropriated for and expended on each railway or canal under the management, charge and direction of the Minister;

• (b) submit those accounts to be audited in such manner as is determined by law or by the Governor in Council;

• (c) have charge of all plans, contracts, estimates, documents, titles, models and other like things relating to any railway or canal under the management, charge and direction of the Minister;

• (d) keep proper accounts with each contractor or other person employed by or under the Department;

• (e) ensure that all contracts are properly drawn up and executed;

• (f) prepare all certificates on which any certificate for the payment of money is to issue;

• (g) keep minutes of all proceedings of the Department;

• (h) prepare reports and conduct, under the direction of the Minister, the correspondence of the Department; and

• (i) generally, do and perform all such acts and things appertaining to the business of the Department as are required by the Minister.

Powers, Duties and Functions of the Minister

Marginal note:Minister’s responsibilities for canals

• 7 (1) The Minister has the management, charge and direction of

  • (a) all Government canals and works and property pertaining or incidental to them;

  • (b) the collection of tolls on the canals and matters incidental to their collection; and

  • (c) the officers and persons employed on the canals.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) The Minister has and may exercise and carry out any of the powers, duties and functions vested, immediately prior to November 2, 1936, in the Minister of Marine and with respect to civil aviation in the Minister of National Defence, by any Act, order or regulation.

• Marginal note:Minister to have supervision over boards, etc.

  (3) The powers, duties and functions of the Minister extend and apply to such boards and other public bodies, subjects, services and properties of the Crown as may be designated or assigned to the Minister by the Governor in Council, over and of which the Minister shall have the control, regulation, management and supervision.

Marginal note:Inquiries

• 7.1 (1) The Minister may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, appoint and direct any person to inquire into and report on any matter or thing that the Minister is authorized to deal with under the Canada Transportation Act or under a Special Act as defined in section 87 of that Act.

• Marginal note:Powers on inquiries

  (2) Section 39 of the Canada Transportation Act applies, with such modifications as the circumstances require, in respect of any inquiry under subsection (1) and every person summoned to attend before a person making any such inquiry is entitled to receive the like fees and allowances for so doing as if summoned to attend before the Federal Court.

Marginal note:Construction or repair of works

8 The Minister shall direct the construction, maintenance and repair of all railways and canals and of all other works appertaining or incidental thereto that are constructed or maintained at the expense of Canada and are placed under the Minister’s management, charge and direction.

Examination Under Oath

Marginal note:Persons and documents

• 9 (1) The Minister may

  • (a) summon and examine, on oath, all such persons as the Minister deems necessary with respect to any matter on which the Minister’s action is required;

  • (b) cause those persons to bring with them such papers, plans, books, documents and things as it is necessary to examine with reference to the matter; and

  • (c) pay those persons a reasonable compensation for their time and disbursements.

• Marginal note:Punishment for neglecting to attend

  (2) Every person summoned by the Minister under subsection (1) who, after due notice of the summons, neglects or refuses to attend and be examined is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty dollars.

Contracts, Tender and Security

Marginal note:Security to be required

• 10 (1) The Minister, in all cases in which any public work under the Minister’s control is being carried out by contract, shall take all reasonable care that good and sufficient security is given to and in the name of Her Majesty for the due performance of the work within the amount and time specified for its completion.

• Marginal note:Passing by lowest tender

  (2) In all cases in which it seems to the Minister not to be expedient to let any work described in subsection (1) to the lowest tenderer, the Minister shall report the same and obtain the authority of the Governor in Council before passing by the lowest tender.

Marginal note:No payment without contract and security

11 No sum of money shall be paid to the contractor on any contract and no work commenced until the contract has been signed by all the parties therein named and the requisite security has been given.

Marginal note:Signatures binding on Her Majesty

• 12 (1) No deed, contract, document or writing relating to any matter under the control or direction of the Minister shall be binding on Her Majesty unless

  • (a) it is signed by the Minister;

  • (b) it is signed by the Deputy Minister and countersigned by the Secretary; or

  • (c) it is signed by a person specially authorized in writing by the Minister for that purpose.

• Marginal note:Questioning Minister’s authorization

  (2) The authorization given by the Minister under paragraph (1)(c) to a person professing to act for the Minister shall not be called in question except by the Minister or by a person acting for the Minister or for Her Majesty.

• Marginal note:Real property and immovables excluded

  (3) This section does not apply in respect of any instrument or act the execution of which is provided for by or under the Federal Real Property and Federal Immovables Act.

Evidence

Marginal note:Copies

13 A copy of any map, plan or other document in the custody of the Secretary, certified by the Secretary to be a true copy, shall be held to be authentic, and is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, of the same legal effect as the original.

Tolls on Canals

Marginal note:Imposition of tolls

• 14 (1) The Governor in Council may impose and authorize the collection of tolls and dues on any canal, alter and change them and declare exemptions therefrom.

• Marginal note:Tolls payable in advance

  (2) The tolls and dues imposed under subsection (1) are, if so demanded by the collector thereof, payable before the right to the use of the canal in respect of which they are incurred accrues.

• Marginal note:Recovery

  (3) All tolls and dues imposed under this Act may be recovered, with costs, in any court of competent jurisdiction by the collector or person appointed to receive them, in the name of the collector or of that person or in the name of Her Majesty, and by any form of proceeding by which debts to the Crown are recoverable.

• Marginal note:Goods on board liable

  (4) The goods on board any steamboat, vessel, raft, crib or other craft, to whomever they belong, are liable for any tolls, dues or fines imposed and levied under this Act and may be seized, detained and sold in the same manner as the steamboat, vessel, raft, crib or other craft in which they are, and as if they belonged to the person contravening any regulation in that respect, saving the recourse of the real owner thereof against the person who is deemed the owner for the purposes of this Act.

• Marginal note:Tolls on the upper St. Lawrence

  (5) The same tolls are payable on steamboats or vessels of any kind, and passengers, taken down the St. Lawrence River past any of the canals between Montreal and Kingston, as would be payable on those steamboats, vessels or passengers, if they had been taken through the canal or canals past which they are so taken down, and those tolls shall be levied in like manner and under the like fines and forfeitures for the non-payment thereof.

Marginal note:Tolls paid to Receiver General

15 All tolls, dues or other revenues imposed and collected under this Act shall be paid by the persons receiving them to the Receiver General in the manner and at the intervals, not exceeding one month, determined by the Receiver General.

Regulations for Use of Canals

Marginal note:Management of canals and tolls

16 The Governor in Council may make such regulations as the Governor in Council deems necessary for the management, maintenance, proper use and protection of the canals or other works under the management, charge and direction or the control of the Minister, and for the ascertaining and collection of the tolls, dues and revenues thereon.

Marginal note:Fines and enforcement

• 17 (1) The Governor in Council may, by the regulations mentioned in section 16,

  • (a) impose such fines, not exceeding in any one case four hundred dollars, for any contravention of a regulation, as the Governor in Council deems necessary for ensuring its observance and the payment of the tolls and dues imposed;

  • (b) provide for the non-passing or detention and seizure at the risk of the owner of any steamboat, vessel, raft, crib or other craft, timber or goods

    • (i) on which tolls or dues have accrued and have not been paid,

    • (ii) in respect of which a regulation has otherwise been contravened or any injury done to a canal and not paid for, or

    • (iii) for or on account of which a fine remains unpaid; and

  • (c) provide for the sale of anything detained or seized under a regulation pursuant to paragraph (b) if the tolls, dues, damages or fine are not paid by the time fixed therefor, and for the payment of the amounts due out of the proceeds of the sale.

• Marginal note:Surplus proceeds

  (2) The surplus proceeds, if any, of a sale referred to in paragraph (1)(c) shall be returned to the owner or the owner’s agent.

• Marginal note:Crown’s rights not impaired

  (3) No regulation made under section 16 and this section impairs the right of the Crown to recover in the ordinary course of law unpaid tolls, dues, fines or damages.

General

Marginal note:Provincial contracts enure to Canada

18 All contracts, bonds, agreements or leases for or respecting any railway or canal now the property of Canada, or for any tolls imposed for their use, entered into by the Commissioner of Public Works of the former Province of Canada, or by the Board of Works of the Province of Nova Scotia or of the Province of New Brunswick, or by any commissioners or other persons duly authorized to enter into them in any province of Canada, enure to the use of Her Majesty, and may be enforced as if they had been entered into with Her Majesty under the authority of this Act.

Marginal note:Custody of documents

19 The Governor in Council may require any person or any provincial authority having the possession or custody of any maps, plans, specifications, estimates, reports or other papers, books, drawings, instruments, models, contracts, documents or records that are not private property and that relate to any railway, building or property connected therewith, or to any canal under the management, charge and direction or the control of the Minister, to deliver them without delay to the Secretary.

Annual Report

Marginal note:Annual report

20 The Minister shall make and submit to the Governor General an annual report on all the railways and canals under the management, charge and direction or the control of the Minister, and the annual report shall be laid before each House of Parliament within twenty-one days after the commencement of the session, showing the state of each work and the amounts received and expended in respect thereof, with such further information as is requisite.