Vol. 140, No. 48 — December 2, 2006

Regulations Amending the Application of Provincial Laws Regulations

Statutory authority

Contraventions Act

Sponsoring department

Department of Justice

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Description

Parliament passed the Contraventions Act in October 1992 to provide for an alternative to the summary conviction process of the Criminal Code for the prosecution of federal regulatory offences that would be designated as contraventions. Parliament amended the Act in 1996 to allow the incorporation into federal law of provincial and territorial offence schemes so that federal contraventions could be processed under these regimes. The Act, as amended, permits the use of the procedures established under these regimes (format of the ticket, place where voluntary payments can be made, time period during which an offender may choose a plea, etc.) for the prosecution of federal contraventions.

The provisions containing the framework to allow the use of provincial and territorial offence schemes are found in sections 65.1 to 65.3 of the Act. Subsection 65.1(1) gives the Governor in Council the authority to make regulations making the offence scheme of a province or territory applicable, with any necessary adaptations, to the prosecution of contraventions committed in that province or territory.

The Application of Provincial Laws Regulations came into force on August 1, 1996. It was amended in 1999 to incorporate the Code of Penal Procedure of Quebec.

On March 23, 2001, the Trial Division of the Federal Court rendered its decision in the case of Canada (Commissioner of Official Languages) v. Canada (Department of Justice) concerning the implementation of the Contraventions Act in Ontario. While it did not invalidate the provisions of the Act dealing with the incorporation of provincial regimes, the Court ordered the Government to take, among other things, "the necessary measures, whether legislative, regulatory or otherwise, to ensure that the quasi-constitutional language rights provided by sections 530 and 530.1 of the Criminal Code, for persons who are prosecuted for contraventions of federal statutes or regulations, are respected."

Amendment

This amendment provides that the laws made applicable to the prosecution of contraventions in Quebec shall be read, with any modifications that the circumstances require, as if section 530 and paragraphs 530.1(a) to (h) of the Criminal Code were contained in those laws. It purports to ensure that during a trial for a contravention prosecuted under Quebec's offence scheme, a defendant will have the same language rights as if he or she had been prosecuted pursuant to the summary conviction process of the Criminal Code. It complies with the spirit of the Federal Court decision in Canada (Commissioner of Official Languages) v. Canada (Department of Justice).

Alternatives

One way to ensure that the language rights of a defendant during the trial are protected would be to abandon the incorporation of Quebec's provincial offence scheme and proceed exclusively under the summary conviction process of the Criminal Code for the prosecution of contraventions in that province. A variant of this approach would be to abandon the incorporation of Quebec's regime and put in force the original procedures found in the Contraventions Act to prosecute contraventions in that province under a strictly federal regime.

Both solutions were set aside as they would prove more onerous on the court system as well as for the accused.

Benefits and costs

This amendment to the Application of Provincial Laws Regulations complies with the Federal Court decision while maintaining in Quebec a system that has been in operation successfully since year 2000. There are no additional costs associated with this amendment.

Consultation

The Commissioner of Official Languages and provincial officials were informed of the Government's intent to modify the Regulations to comply with the spirit of the Federal Court decision.

Compliance and enforcement

Compliance to these amended Regulations is not an issue as the amendment purports to ensure that defendants will have, during trials for contraventions under the offence scheme of Quebec, the same language rights as if they had been prosecuted pursuant to the summary conviction process of the Criminal Code.

Contact

For further information concerning these Regulations, please contact Jean-Pierre Baribeau, Legal Counsel, Contraventions and Contracts Management Division, Department of Justice, 275 Sparks Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H8, 613-941-4880 (telephone), 613-998-1175 (fax), jean-pierre.baribeau@justice.gc. ca (email).

PROPOSED REGULATORY TEXT

Notice is hereby given that the Governor in Council, pursuant to section 65.1 (see footnote a) of the Contraventions Act (see footnote b), proposes to make the annexed Regulations Amending the Application of Provincial Laws Regulations.

Interested persons may make representations with respect to the proposed Regulations 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 Jean-Pierre Baribeau, Legal Counsel, Contraventions and Contracts Management Division, Department of Justice, 275 Sparks Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H8.

Ottawa, November 23, 2006

MARY O'NEILL
Assistant Clerk of the Privy Council

REGULATIONS AMENDING THE APPLICATION OF PROVINCIAL LAWS REGULATIONS

AMENDMENT

1. Part VII of the schedule to the Application of Provincial Laws Regulations (see footnote 1) is amended by adding the following after section 3:

4. The enactments made applicable by this Part shall be read as if section 530 and paragraphs 530.1(a) to (h) of the Criminal Code, with such modifications as the circumstances require, were contained in those enactments.

COMING INTO FORCE

2. These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.

[48-1-o]

Footnote a

S.C. 1996, c. 7, s. 37

Footnote b

S.C. 1992, c. 47

Footnote 1

SOR/96-312

NOTICE:
The format of the electronic version of this issue of the Canada Gazette was modified in order to be compatible with hypertext language (HTML). Its content is very similar except for the footnotes, the symbols and the tables.

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