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 ELIZABETH CULL
MINISTER OF HEALTH AND
MINISTER RESPONSIBLE FOR SENIORS

BILL 68 -- 1993

HEALTH COUNCIL ACT

Contents

Section  
1 Interpretation
2 The Provincial Health Council established
3 Purposes of the council
4 Reporting to the people of British Columbia
5 Powers and procedures of the council
6 Professional services
7 Financial administration
8 Hearings
9 Immunity for acts and omissions in good faith
10 Exemption from fees and taxes
11 Offence Act
12 Application of other Acts
13 Regulations
14 Yearly report to the Legislative Assembly
15 Consequential Amendment
16 Commencement

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

Interpretation

1 In this Act "council" means the Provincial Health Council established under section 2;

"member" means a member appointed under section 2.

The Provincial Health Council established

2 (1) The Provincial Health Council is established as a corporation consisting of at least 12 and not more than 15 members appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council from a list of persons nominated by the minister to represent the people of British Columbia regarding the purposes in section 3.

(2) Members will receive the remuneration set by the Lieutenant Governor in Council and may be reimbursed for prescribed expenses necessarily incurred while discharging their duties as members.

(3) A vacancy in the membership of the council does not impair the power of the remaining members to act.

Purposes of the council

3 The purposes of the council are

(a) to increase public awareness and knowledge of the underlying factors that promote or impair the health of the people of British Columbia, and

(b) to set health goals for the people of British Columbia and monitor the achievement of these goals.

Reporting to the people of British Columbia

4 If the council considers that the interests of the people of British Columbia are best served by making a public report on health issues in British Columbia, or on the need for legislation or a change of policy or practice respecting health in British Columbia, the council must make this report in the manner the council considers most appropriate.

Powers and procedures of the council

5 (1) The council has the powers of a natural person of full capacity for the purposes of carrying out its powers, duties and functions under this Act.

(2) Subject to this Act and the regulations, the council may, by bylaw,

(a) determine its own procedure,

(b) provide for the control and conduct of its meetings,

(c) provide for the election of officers of the council, including the chair and the member to be the acting chair in the absence of the chair,

(d) establish committees and specify the functions and duties of these committees, and

(e) delegate administrative or management duties to its employees.

(3) The council must meet at least 4 times each calendar year.

(4) The chair must set the date, time and place for council meetings and give the members notice of these dates, times and places.

(5) Meetings of the council are open to the public but the council may exclude the public from a meeting if the council considers that, in order to protect the interests of a person or the public interest, the desirability of avoiding disclosure of information being presented outweighs the desirability of public disclosure of the information.

(6) The acquisition or disposal of real or personal property owned or administered by the council may only be done on authority of a bylaw of the council.

Professional services

6 The council may engage or retain specialists or consultants that the council considers necessary to carry out the powers, duties and functions of the office and may determine their remuneration, and the Public Service Act does not apply to the retention, engagement or remuneration of these specialists or consultants.

Financial administration

7 (1) The council must establish and maintain an accounting system satisfactory to the minister and must, whenever required, render in the form specified by the minister detailed accounts of revenues and expenditures of the corporation for the period or to the day the minister designates.

(2) All books or records of account, documents and other financial records of the council must at all times be open for inspection by the minister or a person designated for that purpose by the minister.

(3) The Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations may direct the Comptroller General to examine and report to the Treasury Board on any or all of the financial and accounting operations of the council.

(4) The accounts of the council must, at least once in every year, be audited and reported on by an auditor of a reporting company under the Company Act and the costs of the audit must be paid by the council.

(5) The council must prepare in a form satisfactory to the minister, after the end of its fiscal year,

(a) a report of the council on its operations for the preceding fiscal year, and

(b) a financial statement showing the assets and liabilities of the council at the end of the preceding fiscal year and the operations of the council for that year.

(6) The financial statement referred to in subsection (5) must be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and regulations made under section 13 (2) (b).

(7) The Financial Information Act applies to the council.

(8) The fiscal year of the council is the period of 12 months beginning on April 1 in each year and ending on March 31 in the next succeeding year.

Hearings

8 (1) The council may conduct hearings for the purposes of this Act and may determine the procedures to be followed for the purposes of these hearings.

(2) No person is entitled to a hearing by the council under this Act except as provided by this Act.

(3) For the purposes of this section the council has the powers and the council and its members have the protection and privileges given under sections 12, 15 and 16 of the Inquiry Act to a commissioner appointed under Part 2 of that Act and the council may receive or accept, under oath or otherwise, evidence whether or not it would be admissible in a court of law.

(4) At a hearing before the council, a person has the same privileges respecting the giving of information, the answering of questions or the production of documents or things as that person would have in a proceeding in a court.

(5) Evidence given by a person in a hearing before the council is inadmissible, insofar as the laws of British Columbia apply, against that person at a later date in any court or proceeding of a judicial nature except in an application for judicial review.

Immunity for acts and omissions in good faith

9 (1) No action for damages lies or may be brought against the council or any person appointed, engaged or retained under section 6 because of anything done or omitted in good faith

(a) in the performance or intended performance of any duty or function under this Act, or

(b) in the exercise or intended exercise of any power under this Act.

(2) Subsection (1) does not absolve the government from vicarious liability for an act or omission for which it would be vicariously liable if this section were not in force.

Exemption from fees and taxes

10 (1) Property vested in the council is exempt from taxation under the Municipal Act, the School Act, the Taxation (Rural Area) Act and the Vancouver Charter if the property is being used for the purposes of this Act.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if

(a) the property was subject to taxation under the Municipal Act, the School Act, the Taxation (Rural Area) Act or the Vancouver Charter on the coming into force of this Act, and

(b) a regulation under section 13 (2) (d) does not apply.

Offence Act

11 Section 5 of the Offence Act does not apply to this Act or to the regulations.

Application of other Acts

12 (1) Subject to subsection (2), the Company Act and the Company Clauses Act do not apply to the council.

(2) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may by order declare that provisions of the Company Act apply to the council.

Regulations

13 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations for the following purposes and respecting the following matters:

(a) the prescribed expenses under section 2 (2);

(b) the practices or procedures that must be followed by the council in the conduct of its affairs;

(c) the inclusion of further purposes under section 3 that are consistent with the purposes specified in that section;

(d) the exemption of the council from the obligation under an enactment to pay a fee or a tax.

Yearly report to the Legislative Assembly

14 Each year the council must give to the Speaker a report for the Legislative Assembly concerning the council's activities under this Act since the last report was made under this section, and the Speaker must lay the report before the Legislative Assembly as soon as practicable.

 
Consequential Amendment

Property Transfer Act

15 Section 5 (2) of the Property Transfer Tax Act, S.B.C. 1987, c. 15, is amended by adding the following paragraph:

(k.2) to the council established under section 2 of the Health Council Act for the purposes of that Act; .

Commencement

16 This Act comes into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.


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