1993 Legislative Session: 2nd Session, 35th Parliament
FIRST READING
The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.
HONOURABLE DAN MILLER
MINISTER OF FORESTS
HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:
1 Section 1 (1) of the Forest Act, R.S.B.C. 1979, c. 140, is amended in the definition of "control of a corporation" by striking out "more than 50% of its issued capital," and substituting "50% or more of its issued capital,".
2 The following Division is added to Part 3:
18.1 (1) Subject to subsection (2), the minister may
(a) direct that the right to harvest timber under a timber sale licence that specifies an allowable annual cut, or under any forest licence, be transferred from one timber supply area to an adjacent timber supply area specified by the minister, and
(b) amend the licence to give effect to the direction.
(2) The minister must not give a direction under subsection (1) transferring the right to harvest timber under a licence from one timber supply area to an adjacent timber supply area, unless
(a) the boundaries between the timber supply area specified in the licence and the adjacent timber supply area have been changed under this Act,
(b) the minister is satisfied that the change in boundaries increased the area of the adjacent timber supply area to a size sufficient to support the transferred right to harvest timber, and
(c) the holder of the licence consents.
18.2 (1) In this section "original licence" means a timber sale licence or forest licence that is the subject of an order under subsection (2).
(2) If a timber supply area has been divided under section 6
(b), the minister may order that the allowable annual cut under a timber sale licence that specifies an allowable annual cut or under any forest licence
(a) be fully allocated to one of the timber supply areas resulting from the division, or
(b) be allocated, in the proportions specified in the order, between or among 2 or more of the timber supply areas resulting from the division.
(3) If an order is made under subsection (2), the regional manager, in accordance with subsection (4), must issue to the holder of the original licence one or more licences in substitution for the original licence.
(4) A licence issued under subsection (3) (a) must specify one of the timber supply areas resulting from the division and authorize an allowable annual cut as necessary to give effect to the order of the minister under subsection (2),
(b) must be a timber sale licence if the original licence is a timber sale licence or be a forest licence if the original licence is a forest licence,
(c) must specify a term that expires on the expiry date of the original licence,
(d) is replaceable on the same terms and conditions as the original licence, if the original licence is replaceable under section 13 or 18, and in that case, for the purpose of determining the obligations pertaining to replaceability under the new licence, the new licence is deemed to have been issued at the same time as the original licence, and
(e) subject to subsection (5), must otherwise be on the same terms and conditions as the original licence.
(5) After giving the holder of the original licence an opportunity to be heard, the regional manager, at the time of issuing a licence under subsection (3), may include in it terms and conditions that vary from those in the original licence to the extent only that the regional manager considers necessary in order to take into account the allocation referred to in subsection (2).
(6) A timber sale licence or forest licence issued to the holder of the original licence in accordance with subsections (3) and (4) is binding on the government and on that holder and is deemed to be an agreement, in the form of a timber sale licence or a forest licence, as the case may be, entered into by the regional manager and that holder under section 10.
(7) No compensation is payable by the Crown and no proceedings shall be commenced or maintained to claim compensation from the Crown or to obtain a declaration that compensation is payable by the Crown in respect of the effect of this section on a forest licence or timber sale licence.
(8) This section applies to licences described in subsection (1) whether issued before, on or after the date this section comes into force.
3 Section 50 is amended
(a) by repealing subsection (1) (a) (ii) and substituting the following:
(ii) control of a corporation that holds the agreement, or of another corporation that, directly or indirectly, controls that corporation,
(A) changes, or
(B) is acquired in one or a series of transactions or disposed of in one or a series of transactions, or , and
(b) by repealing subsection (4.1) and substituting the following:
(4.1) Subsection (4) does not apply to a beneficial transfer, by a deceased person's personal representative, of an agreement or of the control of a corporation that holds an agreement to
(a) the spouse of the deceased person,
(b) a child, grandchild or parent of the deceased person, or
(c) the spouse of a child or grandchild of the deceased person.
4 The following sections are added:
53.1 (1) The minister, with the consent of the licensee, may reduce for a specified period
(a) the allowable annual cut authorized or deemed to be authorized in a forest licence, timber sale licence or tree farm licence, or
(b) the volume of timber that may be harvested under a woodlot licence during each year or other period of its term.
(2) Before expiry of a period of reduction specified under this section, the minister, with the consent of the licensee, may
(a) extend the period of the reduction, or
(b) increase or decrease the size of the reduction.
(3) During the period of a reduction under this section, the total volume of timber comprised in the reduction is available for disposition under this Act to persons other than the licensee.
53.2 At the end of the period of any reduction specified under section 53.1, the allowable annual cut or volume of timber under the licence that was subject to the reduction is, by this section, restored to the amount that is equal to the allowable annual cut or volume of timber that was in effect under the licence immediately before the reduction, minus any reductions, other than under section 53.1, that have been made under this Act during the period of the reduction.
5 Section 54 is repealed and the following substituted:
54 (1) In this section "base-level allowable annual cut" means the allowable annual cut that is prescribed for the purposes of this section;
"exempted licence" means a licence described in subsection (3);
"licence" means a forest licence or timber sale licence.
(2) If the allowable annual cut determined for a timber supply area is reduced under section 7 for any reason other than a reduction in the area of land in the timber supply area, the minister, by notice served on all persons who hold licences in the timber supply area that are not exempt licences, may reduce, by the method set out in subsection (4), the allowable annual cuts authorized in the licences.
(3) This section does not apply to or in respect of a licence that
(a) specifies an allowable annual cut less than the base- level allowable annual cut, or
(b) is for a term less than the prescribed term.
(4) A reduction in allowable annual cut imposed under this section in a timber supply area must be apportioned among all the licences in that area, except exempted licences, in accordance with the following method:
(a) first, calculate a reduction in allowable annual cut for each licence by distributing the part of the reduction under section 7 that the minister may assign to the licences proportionately among them according to the relative sizes of the allowable annual cut specified in each licence;
(b) second, calculate for each licence the annual volume of timber, if any, by which the calculations under this subsection reduce the allowable annual cut for that licence to less than the base-level allowable annual cut;
(c) third, calculate the aggregate of the annual volumes of timber calculated under paragraph (b);
(d) fourth, for each licence for which the calculation under paragraph (b) does not reduce the allowable annual cut to less than the base-level allowable annual cut, calculate a further reduction in allowable annual cut by distributing the amount determined under paragraph (c) proportionately among those licences according to the relative sizes of the allowable annual cut specified in each of them;
(e) fifth, repeat the calculations under paragraphs (b) to (d) until the end result of all the calculations is that the allowable annual cut for any of the licences is not reduced to a level that is less than the base-level allowable annual cut.
(5) This section and section 63 apply to licences, whether issued before, on or after the date this section comes into force.
(6) A licence is deemed to be amended to the extent provided in a notice served under this section on the holder of the licence.
6 Section 55.1 (6) is amended by striking out "under section 56.01," and substituting "under section 53.1, 54, 56.01 or 170,".
7 This Act comes into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
SECTION 1: changes the definition of "control of a corporation" consequentially to the amendments to section 50 of the Forest Act. With this amendment 50% beneficial ownership of the voting shares will constitute control instead of 51%.
SECTION 2: adds a new Division to Part 3 of the Forest Act.
SECTION 3: broadens the scope of section 50 (1) of the Forest Act which empowers the minister to cancel agreements under that Act if certain types of transactions take place without the minister's prior written consent. One such transaction is where the control of a corporate agreement holder changes or is acquired. The relevant provision will now refer additionally to a "series of transactions" and will specifically apply to a disposition as well as to an acquisition of control.
In addition, section 50 (4.1) (which contains an exemption from the provision that allows the recovery by the Crown of a portion of timber from certain transferred agreements) is broadened to exempt a beneficial transfer of the control of a corporation to close family members by a deceased person's personal representative.
SECTION 4: adds sections 53.1 and 53.2.
SECTION 5: repeals and replaces section 54 of the Act. Under the existing section 54, the minister may proportionately reduce the allowable annual cuts authorized in all of the forest licences or timber sale licences in a timber supply area.
Section 54 of the Act as re-enacted will exempt certain forest licences and timber licences (those that specify an allowable annual cut that is less than the prescribed base-level allowable annual cut or that are for a term less than that prescribed for the purpose of section 54) from the burden of the reductions in allowable annual cut imposed under the re-enacted section.
SECTION 6: amends section 55.1 of the Act (which imposes penalties for excess harvesting) to broaden the power of the minister or a person authorized by the minister to grant full or partial relief from the consequences of excess harvesting.
[ Return to: Legislative Assembly Home Page ]
Copyright © 2002: Queen's Printer, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada