HONOURABLE SHIRLEY BOND
MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND ATTORNEY GENERAL

BILL 33 — 2012

JUSTICE STATUTES AMENDMENT ACT, 2012

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

Commercial Arbitration Act

1 Section 2 (4) of the Commercial Arbitration Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 55, is amended by adding the following paragraph:

(d) an agreement into which the government of British Columbia or the government of Canada has entered that is prescribed for the purposes of this subsection, or to amendments to that agreement, except as provided in the regulations.

Court of Appeal Act

2 Section 7 of the Court of Appeal Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 77, is repealed and the following substituted:

Leave to appeal

7  (1) In this section, "limited appeal order" means an order prescribed under the rules as a limited appeal order.

(2) Despite section 6 (1) of this Act, an appeal does not lie to the court from a limited appeal order without leave being granted by a justice.

(3) In an order granting leave to appeal under this or any other Act, a justice may limit the grounds of appeal.

Election Act

3 Section 42 of the Election Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 106, is repealed and the following substituted:

Enumerations

42  (1) The chief electoral officer may require or authorize one or more district registrars of voters to conduct enumerations of all or part of their electoral districts.

(2) An enumeration may be conducted by residence-to-residence visitation or by another method directed or authorized by the chief electoral officer.

Enforcement of Canadian Judgments and Decrees Act

4 Section 1 of the Enforcement of Canadian Judgments and Decrees Act, S.B.C. 2003, c. 29, is amended

(a) in subsection (1) in paragraph (g) of the definition of "Canadian judgment" by striking out "the province or territory where the order was made," and substituting "that province or territory,",

(b) in subsection (1) in the definition of "domestic trade agreement" by striking out "or" at the end of paragraph (b), by adding ", or" at the end of paragraph (c) and by adding the following paragraph:

(d) a prescribed trade agreement; ,

(c) in subsection (1) in the definition of "domestic trade agreement award" by striking out "or" at the end of paragraph (b), by adding ", or" at the end of paragraph (c) and by adding the following paragraph:

(d) a prescribed award under a prescribed trade agreement; ,

(d) in subsection (1) by repealing the definition of "enforcing party" and substituting the following:

"enforcing party" means,

(a) in the case of a Canadian judgment that is not a domestic trade agreement award, a person entitled to enforce the Canadian judgment in the province or territory of Canada where the Canadian judgment was made, or

(b) in the case of a Canadian judgment that is a domestic trade agreement award, a person in whose favour the Canadian judgment was made; ,

(e) in subsection (1) by adding the following definitions:

"prescribed trade agreement" means an agreement into which the government of British Columbia or the government of Canada has entered that is prescribed as a prescribed trade agreement;

"province" does not include the Northwest Territories, Yukon or Nunavut; ,

(f) in subsection (2) (a) by striking out "in this Act to a judge, registrar, clerk or other proper officer of the court that made the judgment" and substituting "in section 3 (1) (a) to a judge, registrar, clerk or other proper officer of the court that made the Canadian judgment",

(g) in subsection (2) (a) by striking out "or" at the end of subparagraph (ii), by adding "or" at the end of subparagraph (iii) and by adding the following subparagraph:

(iv) in the case of an award referred to in paragraph (d) of the definition of "domestic trade agreement award" in subsection (1), a reference to the person, or to a member of the panel or other body, that made the award, , and

(h) in subsection (2) by repealing paragraph (b), by adding ", and" at the end of paragraph (c) and by adding the following paragraph:

(c.1) a reference in section 6 (3) (a) and (b) to the judge, court or tribunal that made the Canadian judgment is deemed to be,

(i) in the case of an AIT award, a reference to the presiding body that made the AIT award,

(ii) in the case of a NWPTA award, a reference to the NWPTA panel that made the NWPTA award,

(iii) in the case of a TILMA award, a reference to the TILMA panel that made the TILMA award, or

(iv) in the case of an award referred to in paragraph (d) of the definition of "domestic trade agreement award" in subsection (1) of this section, a reference to the person, panel or other body that made the award.

5 Section 1.1 is amended

(a) in subsection (1) (b) by striking out "and (c) (i)," and substituting "and (c) (i) and (v),", and

(b) in subsection (2) (b) by striking out "or (c) (i)" and substituting "or (c) (i) or (v)".

6 Sections 2 (1), 3 (1) (a) and (2), 5 (1) (a) and (b) and 6 (2) (a), (b) and (c), (3) (a), (b) and (c) and (4) (a) and (b) are amended by striking out "the judgment" wherever it appears and substituting "the Canadian judgment".

7 Section 2 (2) is repealed and the following substituted:

(2) A Canadian judgment that requires a person to pay money may not be registered under this Act for the purpose of enforcement unless it is,

(a) in the case of a Canadian judgment that is not a domestic trade agreement award, a final judgment, or

(b) in the case of a Canadian judgment that is a domestic trade agreement award, an award in favour of or against the government.

8 Section 5 is amended

(a) in subsection (1) by striking out "A Canadian judgment" and substituting "A Canadian judgment, other than a Canadian judgment that is a domestic trade agreement award,", and

(b) by adding the following subsection:

(1.1) A Canadian judgment that is a domestic trade agreement award must not be registered or enforced under this Act more than 10 years after the date on which the Canadian judgment was made.

9 Sections 5 (1) (a) and (b) and 6 (2) (c) (ii) and (iii) and (3) (a) (ii) are amended by adding "of Canada" after "province or territory".

10 Section 6 (2) (c) is amended

(a) in subparagraph (iv) by striking out "judgement" and substituting "Canadian judgment", and

(b) by striking out "or" at the end of subparagraph (iii), by adding ", or" at the end of subparagraph (iv) and by adding the following subparagraph:

(v) the Canadian judgment is a domestic trade agreement award and the ability to enforce that domestic trade agreement award is, under the terms of the domestic trade agreement, suspended or otherwise ineffective.

11 Section 7 (2) is amended

(a) in paragraph (a) by striking out "that judgment" and substituting "the Canadian judgment", and

(b) by repealing paragraph (b) and substituting the following:

(b) interest that has accrued to that date under,

(i) in the case of a Canadian judgment that is not a domestic trade agreement award, the laws applicable to the calculation of interest on the Canadian judgment in the province or territory of Canada where it was made, or

(ii) in the case of a Canadian judgment that is a domestic trade agreement award, the laws of British Columbia.

12 The following section is added:

Regulations

10.1  (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations referred to in section 41 of the Interpretation Act.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations respecting any matter for which regulations are contemplated by this Act.

Family Law Act

13 Section 315 of the Family Law Act, S.B.C. 2011, c. 25, is repealed.

Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act

14 Section 1 (1) of the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 29, is amended by repealing the definition of "support order" and substituting the following:

"support order" means an order or interim order, made by a court or by an administrative body, that requires the payment of support, and includes

(a) the provisions of a written agreement requiring the payment of support if those provisions are enforceable in the jurisdiction in which the agreement was made as if they were contained in an order of a court or administrative body of that jurisdiction, and

(b) a statement of recalculation of the payment of support for a child or a document similar in nature (the "recalculation") made by an administrative body, if the recalculation is enforceable in the jurisdiction in which the recalculation was made as if it were an order of, or were contained in an order of, a court of that jurisdiction.

15 Sections 5 (1) and 25 (1) are amended by striking out "ordinarily resides in British Columbia and believes that the respondent ordinarily resides" and substituting "resides in British Columbia and believes that the respondent habitually resides".

16 Sections 5 (2) (b), 6 (2) (b), 7 (1) (b), 9 (1), (2) and (3) (b), 25 (2) (c), 26 (2) (b), 27 (1) (b), 29 (1), (2) and (3) (b) and 31 (3) (b) (i) are amended by striking out "ordinarily" and substituting "habitually".

17 Sections 7 (1) (a), 27 (1) (a) and 34 (a) are amended by striking out "ordinarily".

18 Sections 9 (3) (a) and 29 (3) (a) are amended by adding "habitually" after "respondent".

19 Sections 10 (3) and 30 (3) are amended by striking out "18" and substituting "12".

20 Section 12 is amended

(a) by repealing subsection (1) and substituting the following:

(1) In determining entitlement to support for a child, the British Columbia court must,

(a) subject to paragraph (b), apply the law of British Columbia, and

(b) if there is no entitlement to support for the child under the law of British Columbia, apply the law of the jurisdiction in which the child habitually resides. , and

(b) in subsection (3) (b) by striking out "paragraph (a)," and substituting "the law of British Columbia,".

21 Section 13 is amended by adding the following subsection:

(4) If an order made under this section does not specify the law that was applied to determine entitlement to child support, it is presumed that the British Columbia court applied the law of British Columbia for that purpose.

22 Section 18 is amended by adding the following subsections:

(4.1) Unless otherwise stated in the order, if an order registered under subsection (1) creates an obligation to pay support, the duration of that obligation is governed by the law of the jurisdiction under which law the order was made.

(4.2) Despite subsection (4.1), if the director is unable to determine the duration of the obligation to pay support based on information received from the person seeking to have the order enforced in British Columbia or from the reciprocating jurisdiction, the director may apply British Columbia law to determine the duration of the obligation to pay support.

23 Section 19 is amended

(a) by repealing subsection (1) and substituting the following:

(1) After registration of a foreign order under section 18, the British Columbia court must send notice of the registration to

(a) the party required to pay support under the order, whether or not that party habitually resides in British Columbia, and

(b) every other party to the order who resides in British Columbia. , and

(b) by repealing subsection (4) and substituting the following:

(4) For the purpose of subsection (3) (b) (iii), the British Columbia court must consider the foreign court or administrative body to have had jurisdiction if the British Columbia court determines that

(a) both parties to the foreign order habitually resided in the reciprocating jurisdiction outside Canada, or

(b) a party did not habitually reside in the reciprocating jurisdiction outside Canada but was, under British Columbia's conflict of law rules, subject to the jurisdiction of the foreign court or administrative body that made the foreign order.

24 Section 31 is amended

(a) in subsection (1) by repealing paragraphs (a) and (b) and substituting the following:

(a) subject to paragraph (b), apply the law of British Columbia, and

(b) if there is no entitlement to support for the child under the law of British Columbia, apply the law of the jurisdiction in which the child habitually resides. , and

(b) in subsection (2) by striking out "the jurisdiction in which the person liable to pay the support ordinarily resides." and substituting "British Columbia."

25 The heading to Division 3 of Part 4 is amended by striking out "Registered".

26 Section 35 (1) is amended

(a) by striking out "registered in British Columbia under Part 3 of" and substituting "made or registered in British Columbia under", and

(b) by adding "or" at the end of paragraph (a) and by repealing paragraphs (b) and (c) and substituting the following:

(c) the respondent habitually resides in British Columbia.

27 Section 39 is repealed and the following substituted:

Order or application not expressed in Canadian currency

39  (1) In this section:

"foreign support amount" means the amount of support referred to in a foreign support order;

"foreign support order" means an order or other document made in a reciprocating jurisdiction that refers to an amount of support that is not expressed in Canadian currency.

(2) If a foreign support order is received by a designated authority or a British Columbia court,

(a) the designated authority must convert the foreign support amount into Canadian currency in accordance with the regulations, and

(b) after that, the director or, if the foreign support order is not filed with the director, the designated authority, may, from time to time, revise the conversion into Canadian currency of the foreign support amount to reflect current conversion rates.

28 The following section is added:

Transition — sections 10, 12, 30 and 31

45.1  (1) Section 10 (3) applies to a direction of the British Columbia court under section 10 (2) (a) made on or after the coming into force of this subsection, and a direction of the British Columbia court made before the coming into force of this subsection is governed by section 10 (3) as it read immediately before that date.

(2) Section 12 applies in respect of a support application heard by the British Columbia court on or after the coming into force of this subsection, and section 12, as it read immediately before the coming into force of this subsection, applies in respect of a support application heard by the British Columbia court before that date.

(3) Section 30 (3) applies to a direction of the British Columbia court under section 30 (2) (a) made on or after the coming into force of this subsection, and a direction of the British Columbia court made before the coming into force of this subsection is governed by section 30 (3) as it read immediately before that date.

(4) Section 31 applies in respect of a support application heard by the British Columbia court on or after the coming into force of this subsection, and section 31, as it read immediately before the coming into force of this subsection, applies in respect of a support application heard by the British Columbia court before that date.

Motor Vehicle Act

29 Section 6 of the Motor Vehicle Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 318, is amended by repealing paragraphs (d) and (e) and substituting the following:

(d) a manufacturer's licence, repairer's licence or transporter's licence under section 41; .

30 Section 23 is amended by adding the following subsection:

(2.1) For the purposes of a regulation under subsection (1) (a), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may do one or more of the following:

(a) delegate to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia the power to determine whether a class of driver's licence issued by another jurisdiction is similar to a class of driver's licence prescribed under this Act;

(b) delegate to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia the power to determine whether an offence under a law of another jurisdiction is similar to

(i) an offence under this Act, or

(ii) a motor vehicle related offence under the Criminal Code;

(c) confer a discretion on the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia with respect to a matter described in paragraph (a) or (b).

31 Section 32 is amended by striking out "verified by affidavit".

32 Sections 41 to 44 are repealed and the following substituted:

Manufacturer's, repairer's and transporter's licences

41 (1) In this section:

"manufacturer's licence" means a licence issued under subsection (4) (a) to a person described in subsection (2) (a);

"repairer's licence" means a licence issued under subsection (4) (a) to a person described in subsection (2) (b);

"transporter's licence" means a licence issued under subsection (4) (a) to a person described in subsection (2) (c).

(2) A person may apply to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia for a licence under this section as follows:

(a) a person who carries on the business of manufacturing motor vehicles or trailers may apply for a manufacturer's licence;

(b) a person who carries on the business of repairing or servicing motor vehicles or trailers may apply for a repairer's licence;

(c) a person who carries on the business of transporting motor vehicles or trailers may apply for a transporter's licence.

(3) An application under subsection (2) must be

(a) in the form and contain the information required by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia,

(b) completed and delivered in the manner required by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, and

(c) accompanied by payment of

(i) the prescribed fee, and

(ii) the insurance premium established under the Insurance (Vehicle) Act.

(4) If satisfied that an application meets the requirements under subsection (3), and that the facts stated in the application are true, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia may issue to the applicant

(a) a manufacturer's licence, repairer's licence or transporter's licence, as the case may be, in the form established by the corporation, and

(b) one number plate, corresponding to the licence issued under paragraph (a), of a material and design determined by the corporation.

(5) A number plate issued under subsection (4) (b) is and remains the property of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia.

(6) The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia may impose restrictions and conditions on a manufacturer's licence, repairer's licence or transporter's licence.

(7) If the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia imposes a restriction or condition on a manufacturer's licence, repairer's licence or transporter's licence, the licence must clearly state the restriction or condition.

(8) If a motor vehicle or trailer displays a number plate issued under subsection (4) (b), a person must not use or operate the motor vehicle or trailer on a highway except under authority of a valid and subsisting manufacturer's licence, repairer's licence or transporter's licence that corresponds to the number plate.

(9) A person who is using or operating a motor vehicle or trailer on a highway under authority of a manufacturer's licence, repairer's licence or transporter's licence must

(a) comply with the restrictions and conditions of the licence,

(b) ensure that the number plate that corresponds to the licence is displayed on the motor vehicle or trailer in the manner prescribed by the regulations,

(c) carry the licence in or on the motor vehicle or trailer, and

(d) produce the licence on demand of a peace officer.

(10) A motor vehicle or trailer that is used or operated on a highway under authority of a manufacturer's licence, repairer's licence or transporter's licence is deemed sufficiently registered and licensed for the purposes of this Act and the Commercial Transport Act.

(11) If the holder of a manufacturer's licence, repairer's licence or transporter's licence ceases to carry on the business of manufacturing, repairing or servicing or transporting motor vehicles or trailers, as the case may be, the licence holder must immediately surrender the following to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia:

(a) the licence;

(b) the number plate associated with the licence.

33 Section 83.1 (1) is amended in paragraph (c) of the definition of "owner" by striking out "section 38, 41, 42 or 44;" and substituting "section 38 or 41;".

34 Section 118.4 (a) and (b) is repealed and the following substituted:

(a) the cancellation of the person's driver training school licence;

(b) the cancellation of the person's driver training instructor's licence; .

35 Section 118.7 is amended

(a) in paragraph (d) by striking out "driving school licence or a driving trainer's instructor's licence;" and substituting "driver training school licence or a driver training instructor's licence;", and

(b) by adding the following paragraphs:

(d.1) the refusal to renew the person's driver training school licence or driver training instructor's licence;

(d.2) the suspension of the person's driver training school licence or driver training instructor's licence; .

36 Section 210 (2) (c) is repealed and the following substituted:

(c) respecting the training of drivers of motor vehicles and the persons and firms engaged in the training of drivers of motor vehicles, including, without limitation, regulations that do either or both of the following:

(i) confer a discretion on the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia;

(ii) delegate a matter to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia; .

37 Section 210 (3) is amended by adding the following paragraph:

(n.1) empowering a person employed by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, designated by name or position, to exercise the powers and perform the duties of a constable or peace officer for the purpose of enforcing prescribed provisions of this Act and prescribed provisions of regulations made under this Act; .

Offence Act

38 Section 1 of the Offence Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 338, is amended in the definition of "ticketed amount" by repealing paragraph (a) and substituting the following:

(a) the fine prescribed for the contravention or, if 2 fines are prescribed for the contravention, the fine payable at the time of payment; .

39 Section 132 is amended by adding the following subsection:

(2.1) For greater certainty, if one fine is prescribed under subsection (2) (d), the fine is both

(a) the fine that applies if paid on or before the 30th day from the date of service under section 14 (5) or mailing under section 14 (6) of a violation ticket, and

(b) the fine that applies if paid after the 30th day from the date of service under section 14 (5) or mailing under section 14 (6) of a violation ticket.

Commencement

40  The provisions of this Act referred to in column 1 of the following table come into force as set out in column 2 of the table:

Item Column 1
Provisions of Act
Column 2
Commencement
1 Anything not elsewhere covered by this table The date of Royal Assent
2 Sections 1 and 2 By regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council
3 Sections 4 to 37 By regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council
4 Section 39 July 1, 2003