BILL C-442 - First Reading

	1st Session, 36th Parliament, 46-47 Elizabeth II, 1997-98
	The House of Commons of Canada
	BILL C-442
	An Act to prohibit profiteering during emergencies
Preamble	Recognizing that
	persons who are victims of any emergency that seriously endangers their lives, health, safety or property should be able to purchase essential goods, services and resources during that emergency at reasonable prices, and
	persons who are victims of such an emergency should be protected from persons who engage in profiteering in essential goods, services or resources during that emergency,
	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 Reform's Anti-Profiteering Act.
	INTERPRETATION
Definitions	2. The definitions in this section apply in this Act.
``emergency'' « état de crise »	``emergency'' means
	(a) a national or local emergency that is declared to be such an emergency by a national or local emergency proclamation that has not expired or been revoked under this Act;
	(b) a national or local emergency described in paragraph (a) that is continued by virtue of a proclamation issued under section 8 that has not expired or been revoked under this Act;
	(c) any emergency described in section 5, 16, 27 or 37 of the Emergencies Act that is declared to be an emergency by a proclamation issued under section 6, 17, 28 or 38 of that Act, as the case may be, that has not expired or been revoked under that Act; or
	(d) any emergency described in paragraph (c) that is continued by virtue of a proclamation issued under section 12, 23, 34 or 43, as the case may be, of the Emergencies Act that has not expired or been revoked under that Act.
``essential goods, services or resources'' « biens, services et réserves essentiels »	``essential goods, services or resources'' means any goods, services or resources or any class of goods, services or resources prescribed as essential.
``local emergency'' « état de crise locale »	``local emergency'' means an urgent and critical situation of a temporary nature whose direct effects are confined to one province and that seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of persons in that province.
``local emergency proclama- tion'' « procla- mation d'état de crise locale »	``local emergency proclamation'' means a proclamation issued under subsection 6(2).
``national emergency'' « état de crise nationale »	``national emergency'' means an urgent and critical situation of a temporary nature that
	(a) seriously endangers the lives, health, safety or property of persons in Canada and whose direct effects are not confined to one province; or
	(b) seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada.
``national emergency proclama- tion'' « procla- mation d'état de crise nationale »	``national emergency proclamation'' means a proclamation issued under subsection 6(1).
``prescribed'' « prescrit »	``prescribed'' means prescribed by a regulation made under section 12.
	OFFENCE AND PUNISHMENT
Offence of profiteering	3. (1) Every person commits an offence who takes advantage or attempts to take advantage of the unusual or exceptional circumstances precipitated by an emergency by selling or attempting to sell essential goods, services or resources at a price that is unreasonable or inflationary for the purpose of making excessive profits.
Punishment	(2) Every person who commits an offence under subsection (1)
	(a) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and is liable
	(i) in the case of a corporation, to a fine not exceeding $100,000, and
	(ii) in the case of any other person, to a fine not exceeding $25,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both; or
	(b) is guilty of an indictable offence and is liable
	(i) in the case of a corporation, to a fine not exceeding $300,000, and
	(ii) in the case of any other person, to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to both.
Subsequent offence	(3) Where a person is convicted of an offence under subsection (1), a second or subsequent time, the amount of the fine for the second or subsequent offence may, notwithstanding subsection (2), be double the amount set out in that subsection.
Continuing offence	(4) A person who commits or continues an offence under subsection (1) on more than one day is liable to be convicted for a separate offence for each day on which the offence is committed or continued.
Additional fine	(5) Where a person is convicted of an offence under subsection (1) and the court is satisfied that the person made excessive profits by committing that offence, the court may order the person to pay an additional fine in an amount equal to the court's estimation of those profits.
Officers etc. of corporations	4. Where a corporation commits an offence under subsection 3(1), any officer, director or agent of the corporation who directed, authorized, assented to or acquiesced or participated in the commission of the offence is a party to and guilty of the offence and is liable on conviction to the punishment provided for the offence, whether or not the corporation has been prosecuted for or convicted of the offence.
Offences by employees or agents	5. In any prosecution for an offence under subsection 3(1), it is sufficient proof of the offence to establish that it was committed by an employee or agent of the accused, whether or not the employee or agent is identified or has been prosecuted for the offence.
	PROCLAMATION OF NATIONAL OR LOCAL EMERGENCY
Declaration of national emergency by proclamation	6. (1) Where the Governor in Council believes, on reasonable grounds, that a national emergency exists, the Governor in Council may issue a proclamation declaring that emergency to be an emergency for the purposes of subsection 3(1).
Declaration of local emergency by proclamation	(2) Where the Governor in Council believes on reasonable grounds, that a local emergency exists in a province, the Governor in Council may, on the request of the lieutenant governor in council of the province, issue, a proclamation declaring that emergency to be an emergency for the purposes of subsection 3(1).
Contents of national emergency proclamation	(3) A national emergency proclamation shall specify concisely the state of affairs constituting the emergency and whether the direct effects of the emergency extend to the whole of Canada or a particular area in Canada and, where they apply to a particular area in Canada, identify that area.
Contents of local emergency proclamation	(4) A local emergency proclamation shall specify concisely the state of affairs constituting the emergency and whether the direct effects of the emergency extend to the whole area of a province or specify the particular area in the province to which those effects extend, as indicated to the Governor in Council by the lieutenant governor in council of the province and, where they apply to a particular area of the province, identify that area.
Effective date	7. (1) A national or local emergency proclamation is effective on the day on which it is issued.
Expiration	(2) A proclamation referred to in subsection (1) expires at the end of sixty days unless the proclamation is previously revoked or continued in accordance with this Act.
	CONTINUATION OR REVOCATION OF PROCLAMATION
Continuation by the Governor in Council	8. (1) Subject to subsection (2), at any time before a national emergency proclamation or a local emergency proclamation would otherwise expire, the Governor in Council may, by proclamation, continue the proclamation either generally or with respect to any area for such period not exceeding sixty days, as is specified in the proclamation where the Governor in Council believes, on reasonable grounds, that the emergency will continue to exist or that the direct effects of the emergency will continue to extend to that area.
Restriction	(2) A local emergency proclamation may only be continued in respect of a province or an area of a province where the lieutenant governor of the province has made a request to the Governor in Council for such a continuance.
Multiple continuations	(3) Subject to subsection (2), a national or local emergency proclamation may be continued more than once under subsection (1).
Effective date	(4) A proclamation continuing a proclamation referred to in subsection (1) is effective on the day it is issued.
Revocation by the Governor in Council	9. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the Governor in Council may, by proclamation, revoke a national emergency proclamation or a local emergency proclamation either generally or with respect to any area of Canada or a province, as the case may be, effective on such day as is specified in the proclamation, as the case may be.
Restriction	(2) A local emergency proclamation may only be revoked in respect of a province or an area of the province where the lieutenant governor in council of that province has made a request to the Governor in Council for such a revocation.
Revocation by the Senate or the House of Commons	(3) The Senate or the House of Commons may revoke a national emergency proclamation in accordance with section 10.
Motion for revocation	10. (1) Where a motion for the consideration of the Senate or the House of Commons to the effect that a national emergency proclamation be revoked either generally or with respect to any area of Canada, signed by not less than ten members of the Senate or twenty members of the House of Commons, as the case may be, is filed with the Speaker thereof, that House of Parliament shall take up and consider the motion within three sitting days after it is filed.
Vote	(2) A motion taken up and considered in accordance with subsection (1) shall be debated without interruption for not more than ten hours and, on the expiration of the tenth hour or such earlier time as the House is ready for the question, the Speaker shall forthwith, without further debate or amendment, put every question necessary for the disposition of the motion.
Revocation of proclamation	(3) If a motion debated in accordance with subsection (2) is adopted by the House, the proclamation, to the extent that it has not previously expired or been revoked, is revoked in accordance with the motion, effective on the day specified in the motion, which day may not be earlier than the day of the vote adopting the motion.
	NOTIFICATION TO THE PUBLIC
Notification to the public	11. (1) The Governor in Council shall, by whatever means he or she deems appropriate, cause the public to be notified of every proclamation issued under this Act and the contents thereof and shall do so on or before the day the proclamation takes effect under this Act.
Notification to the public	(2) The Governor in Council shall, by whatever means he or she deems appropriate, cause the public to be notified of every motion adopted by either House of Parliament that revokes a proclamation issued under this Act and the contents thereof and shall do so on or before the day the motion takes effect under this Act.
	REGULATIONS
Regulations	12. The Governor in Council may make regulations
	(a) prescribing any goods, services or resources or class of goods, services or resources to be essential goods, services or resources for the purposes of the definition ``essential goods, services or resources'';
	(b) determining what constitutes an unreasonable or inflationary price in respect of essential goods, services or resources for the purposes of subsection 3(1); and
	(c) determining what constitutes excessive profits for the purposes of subsection 3(1).
	MISCELLANEOUS
Priority of subsection 3(1)	13. Notwithstanding any provision in the Emergencies Act, where a person contravenes an order or regulation made under that Act and the contravention constitutes an offence under that Act and subsection 3(1) of this Act, the person shall be proceeded against under this Act.
	COMING INTO FORCE
Coming into force	14. This Act shall come into force sixty days after it is assented to.