This enactment amends the Financial Administration Act to, among other things, permit that a special warrant, authorizing a payment out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, may be issued while Parliament is in session but is not sitting. It also provides for the repeal of that amendment on June 24, 2020, such that special warrants will be issued, as before, only when Parliament is not in session.

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

Payments urgently required

30 (1) Where a payment is urgently required for the public good,

• (a) at any time that Parliament is in session but is not sitting, and

• (b) there is no other appropriation pursuant to which the payment may be made,

the Governor in Council, on the report of the President of the Treasury Board that there is no appropriation for the payment and the report of the appropriate Minister that the payment is urgently required for the public good, may, by order, direct the preparation of a special warrant to be signed by the Governor General authorizing the payment to be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Payments urgently required

30 (1) Subject to subsection (1.‍1), where a payment is urgently required for the public good

• (a) at any time that Parliament is not in session from the date of a dissolution until 60 days following the date fixed for the return of the writs at the general election immediately following that dissolution, and

• (b) there is no other appropriation pursuant to which the payment may be made,

the Governor in Council, on the report of the President of the Treasury Board that there is no appropriation for the payment and the report of the appropriate Minister that the payment is urgently required for the public good, may, by order, direct the preparation of a special warrant to be signed by the Governor General authorizing the payment to be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

No special warrants when Parliament prorogued

(1.‍1) The Governor in Council shall not, in the 60 days referred to in subsection (1), direct the preparation of a special warrant referred to in that subsection when Parliament is not in session on any of those days by virtue of the fact that it is prorogued.

Distribution and publication

(3) Every warrant issued under this section shall be

• (a) sent to a representative of every recognized party in the House of Commons as soon as it has been issued;

• (b) sent to the Clerk of the House of Commons within seven days after it is issued; and

• (c) published in the Canada Gazette within seven days after it is issued.

Publication and report

(3) Every warrant issued under this section shall be published in the Canada Gazette within 30 days after it is issued, and a statement showing all warrants issued under this section and the amounts of those warrants shall be laid by the President of the Treasury Board before the House of Commons within 15 days after the commencement of the next ensuing session of Parliament.