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Vol. 140, No. 41 — October 14, 2006 Excluded Crown Corporations OrderStatutory authority Alternative Fuels Act Sponsoring agency Treasury Board Secretariat REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT (This statement is not part of the Order.) Description The Alternative Fuels Act requires from 1997 onwards that the Crown corporations listed in Schedule III of the Financial Administration Act use an alternative fuel (such as ethanol, methanol, propane gas, natural gas, hydrogen, electricity) in the operation of their motor vehicles capable of operating on such a fuel "where it is cost effective and operationally feasible to do so." To permit Parliament to monitor the conversion of the federal vehicle fleet to the use of alternative fuels, each Crown corporation must report annually on its application of the Act. According to subsection 8(b) of the Act, these reports must be tabled in Parliament at least six months after the end of each fiscal year. Currently, many Crown corporations do not own any vehicles. As well, other Crown corporations owning only one or a few vehicles have found it not cost effective nor operationally feasible in nearly ten years to use an alternative fuel in their vehicles. However, in order to meet the requirements of the Act, each must prepare and submit a nil report to Parliament annually. Subsection 2(2) of the Act authorizes that "the Treasury Board may, by order, exclude any Crown corporation from the application of this Act, after consultation with the board of directors of the corporation." Given the cost and administrative burden to the Crown corporations of having to prepare and submit annual nil reports to Parliament, this new order is proposed. It would exclude certain Crown corporations from the Act where the corporation does not currently own any vehicles and does not reasonably foresee the acquisition of any vehicles in the future, or the corporation has few vehicles that do not use alternative fuels and does not foresee the acquisition of alternative-fuelled vehicles in the future. The net effect would be to relieve a number Crown corporations from the requirement to table nil reports under the Act. If the circumstances of any Crown corporation named in the order changes, an amendment to the order would be required to mandate an annual report to Parliament. Alternatives The elimination of the preparation and filing of nil reports by the Crown corporations either requires an amendment to the Alternative Fuels Act or the issuance of exclusion order under the Act. Alternatively, the Crown corporations could continue to prepare and file nil reports and absorb the cost of doing so, or run the risk of violating the Act by failing to table the annual nil reports. Benefits and costs Even though each individual Crown corporation would be incurring only a few hundred dollars or, at most, a few thousand dollars in ensuring that it has systems in place to remind the organization to prepare the annual nil report and to complete the drafting, briefing and filing of the nil reports, the collective cost to the corporations and Parliament would appear to be in the range of more than ten thousand dollars annually, and over an extended period of time could reach hundreds of thousands of dollars. As well, the proposed order would reduce the administrative burden not only on Crown corporations but also on ministers' offices and on Parliament. By the issuance of an exclusion order, these costs would be eliminated. It would be expected that a Crown corporation would likely use alternative fuel in its vehicles if there are economic and operational benefits irrespective of the provisions in the statute. Thus, the impact on the environment from the proposed exclusion order is expected to be nil or insignificant. Consultation The boards of directors of all Crown corporations subject to the proposed exclusion order were consulted between November 2005 and April 2006 and all were supportive. David Salie, Special Advisor, Governance Directorate, Government Operations Sector, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R5, 613-957-0144 (telephone), 613-957-0160 (fax), Salie.David@tbs-sct.gc.ca (email). Notice is hereby given that the Treasury Board, pursuant to subsection 2(2) of the Alternative Fuels Act (see footnote a), proposes to make the annexed Excluded Crown Corporations Order. Interested persons may make representations concerning the proposed Order within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. All such representations must cite the Canada Gazette, Part I, and the date of publication of this notice, and be addressed to David Salie, Special Advisor, Governance Directorate, Government Operations Sector, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R5 (tel: 613-957-0144; fax: 613-957-0160; e-mail: Salie.David@tbs-sct.gc.ca). Ottawa, September 28, 2006
JOHN BAIRD EXCLUDED CROWN CORPORATIONS ORDER EXCLUDED CROWN CORPORATIONS 1. The Crown corporations set out in the schedule are excluded from the application of the Alternative Fuels Act. COMING INTO FORCE 2. This Order comes into force on the day on which it is registered.
SCHEDULE EXCLUDED CROWN CORPORATIONS Atlantic Pilotage Authority Business Development Bank of Canada Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation Canada Development Investment Corporation Canada Lands Company Limited Canadian Commercial Corporation Canadian Dairy Commission Canadian Tourism Commission Cape Breton Development Corporation Defence Construction (1951) Limited Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation Export Development Canada Farm Credit Canada Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation Great Lakes Pilotage Authority Laurentian Pilotage Authority Pacific Pilotage Authority Royal Canadian Mint Standards Council of Canada [41-1-o] S.C. 1995, c. 20 |
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