Yukon Act (S.C. 2002, c. 7)

Marginal note:Laws relating to natural resources

• 19 (1) The Legislature may make laws in relation to

  • (a) the exploration for non-renewable natural resources in Yukon and oil and gas in the adjoining area;

  • (b) the development, conservation and management of non-renewable natural resources in Yukon, oil and gas in the adjoining area and forestry resources in Yukon, including laws in relation to the rate of primary production from those resources;

  • (c) oil and gas pipelines located entirely within Yukon;

  • (d) the development, conservation and management of sites and facilities in Yukon for the generation and production of electrical energy;

  • (e) the export, from Yukon to another part of Canada, of the primary production from non-renewable natural resources and forestry resources in Yukon, and of electrical energy generated or produced from facilities in Yukon; and

  • (f) the export, from the adjoining area to another part of Canada, of the primary production from oil and gas in that area.

• Marginal note:Export of natural resources

  (2) Laws made under paragraph (1)(e) or (f) may not authorize or provide for discrimination in prices or in supplies exported.

• Marginal note:Taxation of natural resources

  (3) The Legislature may make laws in relation to the raising of money by any mode of taxation in respect of resources referred to in paragraph (1)(b) and primary production from those resources and in respect of sites and facilities referred to in paragraph (1)(d) and the production of electrical energy from them. The Legislature may make such laws whether or not the production is exported, in whole or in part, from Yukon or, in the case of oil and gas from the adjoining area, from that area.

• Marginal note:No differentiation based on place of export

  (4) A law made under subsection (3) may not authorize or provide for taxation that differentiates between production that is not exported and that which is exported to another part of Canada.

• Definition of primary production

  (5) In this section, primary production means

  • (a) production from a non-renewable natural resource if

    • (i) the product is in a form in which the resource exists on its recovery or severance from its natural state, or

    • (ii) the product is a product that results from processing or refining the resource, and is not a manufactured product or a product that results from refining crude oil, upgraded heavy crude oil, gases or liquids derived from coal, or a synthetic equivalent of crude oil; and

  • (b) production from a forestry resource if the product consists of sawlogs, poles, lumber, wood chips, sawdust or any other primary wood product, or wood pulp, and is not a product manufactured from wood.

• Marginal note:Existing powers or rights

  (6) Nothing in subsections (1) to (5) derogates from any powers or rights that the Legislature has under any other provision of this Act.

Marginal note:Restrictions on powers

• 20 (1) Nothing in subsections 18(1) and (2) and section 19 shall be construed as giving the Legislature greater powers than are given to legislatures of the provinces under sections 92, 92A and 95 of the Constitution Act, 1867.

• Marginal note:Water-power

  (2) Despite subsections 18(1) and (2) and section 19, the Legislature may not make laws in respect of the right to the use and flow of waters for the production or generation of water-power to which the Dominion Water Power Act applies.

Marginal note:Agreement implementation Acts

21 Despite subsection 20(1), the Legislature may, in exercising its powers under sections 18 and 19 for the purpose of implementing aboriginal land claim agreements or aboriginal self-government agreements, make laws that are in relation to the matters coming within class 24 of section 91 of the Constitution Act, 1867.

Marginal note:Laws re conservation of wildlife

• 22 (1) Despite subsection 20(1), any law of the Legislature in relation to the conservation of wildlife, unless the contrary intention appears in it, applies to and in respect of Indians and Inuit.

• Marginal note:Hunting for food

  (2) Nothing in paragraph 18(1)(m) or subsection (1) shall be construed as authorizing the Legislature to make laws restricting or prohibiting Indians and Inuit from hunting for food on unoccupied public real property, other than a species that is declared by order of the Governor in Council to be in danger of becoming extinct. This subsection does not apply to laws that implement the Agreement given effect by the Western Arctic (Inuvialuit) Claims Settlement Act.

• Marginal note:Cessation of application

  (3) After a final agreement referred to in section 4 or 5 of the Yukon First Nations Land Claims Settlement Act is given effect by or under that Act, subsection (2) does not apply in respect of persons eligible to be enrolled under the agreement or the traditional territory identified in it.

Marginal note:Borrowing and lending

• 23 (1) The Legislature may make laws

  • (a) for the borrowing of money by the Commissioner on behalf of Yukon for territorial, municipal or local purposes;

  • (b) for the lending of money by the Commissioner to any person in Yukon; and

  • (c) for the investing by the Commissioner of surplus money standing to the credit of the Yukon Consolidated Revenue Fund.

• Marginal note:Restriction

  (2) The aggregate of all borrowings must not exceed the maximum amount set under subsection (4).

• Marginal note:Charge on Yukon C.R.F.

  (3) The repayment of money borrowed under a law made under paragraph (1)(a), and the payment of interest on that money, is a charge on and payable out of the Yukon Consolidated Revenue Fund.

• Marginal note:Maximum amount — borrowings

  (4) The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance, set the maximum amount of the aggregate of all borrowings.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (5) The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance, make regulations respecting borrowings for the purposes of subsections (2) and (4), including regulations respecting

  • (a) what constitutes, or is deemed to constitute, borrowing;

  • (b) the entities, or classes of entities, whose borrowings must be taken into account; and

  • (c) the manner in which the value of a borrowing is determined.

Marginal note:Withholding of assent

• 24 (1) The Governor in Council may, in writing, direct the Commissioner to withhold his or her assent to a bill that has been introduced in the Legislative Assembly.

• Marginal note:Consent of Governor in Council

  (2) A bill in respect of which a direction has been given may not become law without the Governor in Council’s assent, which assent may not be given later than one year after the day on which the bill is adopted by the Legislative Assembly.

Marginal note:Transmittal of laws

• 25 (1) A copy of every law made by the Legislature shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly to the Governor in Council within 30 days after it is made.

• Marginal note:Disallowance

  (2) The Governor in Council may disallow any law made by the Legislature or any provision of any such law at any time within one year after it is made.

Marginal note:Conflicting laws

26 In the event of a conflict between a law of the Legislature and a federal enactment, the federal enactment prevails to the extent of the conflict.

Marginal note:Official languages

• 27 (1) The ordinance entitled the Languages Act made on May 18, 1988 under the former Act and any successor to it may not be repealed, amended or otherwise rendered inoperable by the Legislature without the concurrence of Parliament by way of an amendment to this Act.

• Marginal note:Additional rights and services

  (2) Nothing in subsection (1) shall be construed as preventing the Commissioner or any other public officer or the Legislature or any other institution of the Yukon Government — whether by amending the ordinance referred to in that subsection, without the concurrence of Parliament, or by any other means — from granting rights in respect of, or providing services in, English and French or any languages of the aboriginal peoples of Canada in addition to the rights and services provided for in that ordinance.

Yukon Consolidated Revenue Fund

Marginal note:Establishment of fund

• 28 (1) All public moneys and revenue over which the Legislature has the power of appropriation shall form a fund to be known as the Yukon Consolidated Revenue Fund.

• Marginal note:Establishment of bank accounts

  (2) The member of the Executive Council designated for that purpose by a law of the Legislature shall establish, in the name of the Yukon Government, accounts with banks, or authorized foreign banks within the meaning of section 2 of the Bank Act that are not subject to the restrictions and requirements referred to in subsection 524(2) of that Act, in respect of their business in Canada, that the member designates for the deposit of public moneys and revenue.

Marginal note:Recommendation of Commissioner

29 It is not lawful for the Legislative Assembly to adopt or pass any vote, resolution, address or bill for the appropriation of any part of the public revenue, or of any tax, for any purpose that has not been first recommended to the Legislative Assembly by message of the Commissioner, in the session in which the vote, resolution, address or bill is proposed.

Marginal note:Appropriation of moneys granted by Parliament

30 When a sum of money is granted to Her Majesty in right of Canada by Parliament to defray expenses for a specified public service in Yukon, the power of appropriation by the Legislature over that sum is subject to the specified purpose for which it is granted.

Yukon Public Accounts

Marginal note:Fiscal year

31 The Yukon Government’s fiscal year is the period beginning on April 1 in one year and ending on March 31 in the next year.

Marginal note:Submission of Yukon Public Accounts to Legislative Assembly

32 The Commissioner, with the consent of the Executive Council, shall, on or before such day of the fiscal year as the Legislative Assembly may fix, lay before the Legislative Assembly a report called the Yukon Public Accounts for the preceding fiscal year and the Legislative Assembly shall consider the report.

Marginal note:Form and contents

33 The Yukon Public Accounts shall be prepared in any form that the Commissioner, with the consent of the Executive Council, directs. They shall be prepared in accordance with accounting principles recommended for the public sector by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada or its successor and shall include

• (a) consolidated financial statements for the Yukon Government that present

  • (i) the financial position as at the end of the fiscal year,

  • (ii) the accumulated surplus or deficit as at the end of the fiscal year,

  • (iii) the results of its operations for the fiscal year, and

  • (iv) the changes in the financial position for the fiscal year;

• (b) the opinion of the Auditor General of Canada referred to in subsection 34(1); and

• (c) any other information or statements that are required in support of the consolidated financial statements by or under any law of the Legislature.

Marginal note:Annual audit

• 34 (1) The Auditor General of Canada shall audit the accounts, including those related to the Yukon Consolidated Revenue Fund, and financial transactions of the Yukon Government in each fiscal year in accordance with auditing standards recommended by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada or its successor and shall express his or her opinion as to whether

  • (a) the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects and in accordance with accounting principles recommended for the public sector by that organization or its successor, the financial position of the Yukon Government as at the end of the fiscal year and the results of its operations in, and changes in its financial position for, the fiscal year; and

  • (b) the transactions of the Yukon Government that have come to the notice of the Auditor General in the course of the audit are within the powers of the Yukon Government under this or any other Act.

• Marginal note:Report

  (2) The Auditor General shall report to the Legislative Assembly any matter falling within the scope of the audit that, in his or her opinion, should be reported to the Assembly.