Bill
C-370
LEGISinfo
First Reading
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Short Title
Interpretation
Continuance
Minister
Mandate — Passenger Rail Service
Capacity and Powers
Head Office
Board of Directors
Establishment
Chair
Chief Executive Officer
Reports
Canada Transportation Act
Transitional Provisions
Terminology Changes
Coming into Force
SCHEDULE
First Session, Forty-second Parliament,
64-65-66 Elizabeth II, 2015-2016-2017
HOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA
BILL C-370
An Act to continue VIA Rail Canada Inc. under the name VIA Rail Canada, to amend the Canada Transportation Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts
FIRST READING, October 16, 2017
Ms. Mathyssen
421348
SUMMARY
This enactment continues VIA Rail Canada Inc. under the name VIA Rail Canada and sets out its mandate.
It also amends the Canada Transportation Act to provide that an order shall not impose a condition that gives priority to the trains of a railway company with respect to the exercise or restriction of rights.
Finally, it makes consequential amendments to other Acts.
Available on the House of Commons website at the following address:
www.ourcommons.ca
1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 
64-65-66 Elizabeth II, 2015-2016-2017
HOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA
BILL C-370
An Act to continue VIA Rail Canada Inc. under the name VIA Rail Canada, to amend the Canada Transportation Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts
Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:
Short Title
Short title
1 This Act may be cited as the VIA Rail Canada Act.
Interpretation
Definitions
2 The following definitions apply in this Act.
board means the board of directors of the Corporation established by section 13. (conseil)
Corporation means VIA Rail Canada continued by section 3. (Société)
Minister means the Minister of Transport. (ministre)
Continuance
Continuance of VIA Rail Canada Inc.
3 VIA Rail Canada Inc.‍, incorporated on January 12, 1977, under the Canada Corporations Act, chapter C-32 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970, is continued under this Act under the name VIA Rail Canada.
Charter
4 For the purposes of Part X of the Financial Administration Act, this Act is the charter of the Corporation.
Cessation of former legal regime
5 On the day on which this Act comes into force, the Canada Business Corporations Act ceases to apply to the Corporation and the constating documents of VIA Rail Canada Inc. cease to have effect.
Cancellation of shares
6 All shares of VIA Rail Canada Inc. are cancelled without any repayment of capital in respect of those shares. The capital constitutes a capital surplus of the Corporation.
Minister
Minister responsible
7 The Minister is the appropriate minister for the Corporation for the purposes of Part X of the Financial Administration Act.
Mandate — Passenger Rail Service
Mandate
8 (1) The Corporation’s mandate is to manage and provide safe and efficient passenger rail services in Canada that contribute to a sustainable environment and, in cooperation with other public passenger service providers, to improve passenger rail services in Canada.
Equipment, facilities and resources
(2) The Corporation may use excess equipment, facilities and resources for any commercial purpose that is ancillary to its mandate with a view to reducing the need for payments to the Corporation out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Mandatory routes
9 (1) In carrying out its mandate, the Corporation must operate a service on all routes set out in the Schedule to this Act.
Stations
(2) Service at all stations on the routes set out in the schedule to this Act must be operated on a regular basis.
Schedule
(3) Subject to subsection (4), the Governor in Council may, by regulation,
(a) amend the Schedule by adding or removing a route; and
(b) provide that the requirement referred to in subsection (2) ceases to apply in respect of a station.
Affirmative resolution
(4) A regulation that either removes a route from the schedule to this Act or provides that the requirement referred to in subsection (2) ceases to apply in respect of a station is subject to affirmative resolution of Parliament.
Capacity and Powers
Legal capacity
10 The Corporation has the capacity and, subject to the other provisions of this Act, the rights, powers and privileges of a natural person.
Not an agent of Her Majesty
11 The Corporation is not an agent of Her Majesty in right of Canada.
Head Office
Head office
12 The head office of the Corporation is to be at a place in Canada that is designated by the Governor in Council.
Board of Directors
Establishment
Composition
13 (1) The Corporation’s board of directors is established, consisting of not more than 15 directors, including the chair and the chief executive officer.
Chair and chief executive officer
(2) The chair and the chief executive officer are to be appointed by the Governor in Council.
Other directors
(3) The directors, other than the chair and the chief executive officer, are to be appointed by the Minister, with the approval of the Governor in Council.
Chair
Role of chair
14 (1) The chair presides at meetings of the board and exercises any powers and performs any duties and functions that are assigned by the by-laws of the Corporation.
Incapacity or vacancy
(2) If the chair is absent or unable to act or if the office of chair is vacant, the board may designate another director to act as chair, but that person may act as chair for more than 90 days only with the approval of the Governor in Council.
Chief Executive Officer
Role of chief executive officer
15 (1) The chief executive officer is responsible for the direction and management of the business and day-to-day operations of the Corporation. The chief executive officer performs any duties and functions that are assigned by the by-laws of the Corporation.
Incapacity or vacancy
(2) If the chief executive officer is absent or unable to act or if the office of chief executive officer is vacant, the board may designate another director to act as chief executive officer, but that person may act as chief executive officer for more than 90 days only with the approval of the Governor in Council.
Reports
Punctuality
16 (1) The Corporation must compile information on its compliance with the railway timetable established for every route that it operates.
Publication
(2) The Corporation must publish statistics on its compliance with railway timetables on its website.
Report
(3) If, over a six-month period, the service on a particular route fails to comply with the railway timetable on more than 20% of the trips, the Corporation must provide the Minister with a report identifying the causes of those delays and the measures to be taken to improve compliance with the railway timetable on that route.
Regulations
(4) The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the Corporation’s compliance with railway timetables, including regulations respecting
(a) the compiling of information on the Corporation’s compliance;
(b) the statistics to be published; and
(c) the manner of determining whether the service on a particular route fails to comply with the timetable on more than 20% of the trips.
Report — long-term objectives
17 (1) Every five years, the Minister must prepare and cause to be laid before each House of Parliament a report establishing a long-term plan for the Corporation that includes
(a) objectives regarding its financial performance and compliance with railway timetables;
(b) any additional route on which passenger rail service is to be provided; and
(c) objectives regarding its contribution to a sustainable environment and a reduction in the impact of its activities on the environment.
1996, c. 10
Canada Transportation Act
18 Section 138 of the Canada Transportation Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (2):
VIA Rail Canada
(2.‍1) Despite subsection (2), in the case of an order granting a right to VIA Rail Canada, the Agency shall not impose a condition that gives priority to the trains of either railway company with respect to the exercise or restriction of rights.
Transitional Provisions
Continuation — directors, chair and chief executive officer
19 The members of the board of directors of VIA Rail Canada Inc.‍, its chair and its chief executive officer continue to hold office as directors, chair and chief executive officer, respectively, of the Corporation according to the conditions of their appointments, until the expiry of their terms.
References
20 Every reference to VIA Rail Canada Inc. in any deed, contract or other document executed or, in Quebec, signed by VIA Rail Canada Inc. in its own name is to be read as a reference to VIA Rail Canada, unless the context requires otherwise.
Property
21 All rights and property held by or in the name of or in a trust for VIA Rail Canada Inc. and all obligations and liabilities of VIA Rail Canada Inc. are deemed to be rights, property, obligations and liabilities of the Corporation.
Continuation of legal proceedings
22 Any action, suit or other proceeding to which VIA Rail Canada Inc. is a party that is pending in any court on the day on which this Act comes into force may be continued by or against the Corporation in the same manner and to the same extent as it could have been continued by or against VIA Rail Canada Inc.
Commencement of legal proceedings
23 Any action, suit or other proceeding in respect of an obligation or liability incurred by VIA Rail Canada Inc. may be brought against the Corporation in any court that would have had jurisdiction if the action, suit or other proceeding had been brought against VIA Rail Canada Inc.
By-laws
24 Every by-law of VIA Rail Canada Inc. is, to the extent that it is consistent with this Act, a by-law of the Corporation.
Terminology Changes
Replacement of “VIA Rail Canada Inc.‍” — Acts
25 Every reference to “VIA Rail Canada Inc.‍” is replaced by a reference to “VIA Rail Canada” in the following provisions:
(a) in the Canada Transportation Act,
(i) the definition public passenger service provider in section 87, and
(ii) subsection 144.‍1(2) and paragraph 144.‍1(3)‍(a);
(b) paragraph 18.‍1(1)‍(d) of the Access to Information Act;
(c) Schedule I to the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act;
(d) Part I of Schedule III to the Financial Administration Act; and
(e) Schedule III to the Payments in Lieu of Taxes Act.
Coming into Force
120 days after royal assent
26 This Act comes into force 120 days after the day on which it receives royal assent. 
SCHEDULE 
(section 9)
Item
Routes
1.
Churchill – Winnipeg
2.
Jasper – Prince Rupert
3.
Montréal – Gaspé
4.
Montréal – Halifax
5.
Montréal – Jonquière
6.
Montréal – Québec
7.
Montréal – Senneterre
8.
Ottawa – Montréal
9.
Ottawa – Québec
10.
Sudbury – White River
11.
The Pas – Pukatawagan
12.
Toronto – Kingston – Ottawa
13.
Toronto – Stratford – London
14.
Toronto – Kingston – Montréal
15.
Toronto – Niagara Falls
16.
Toronto – London – Sarnia
17.
Toronto – Brantford – Windsor
18.
Vancouver – Toronto
19.
Victoria – Courtnay 
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