Bill S-233

2nd Session, 41st Parliament,

62-63-64 Elizabeth II, 2013-2014-2015

senate of canada

BILL S-233

An Act enacting the Underground Infrastructure Safety Enhancement Act and making consequential amendments to other Acts

SHORT TITLE

1. This Act may be cited as the Underground Infrastructure Safety Enhancement Act.

INTERPRETATION

2. The following definitions apply in this Act.

“damage prevention organization” means a non-profit organization or entity whose primary roles are to prevent damage to underground infrastructure by developing and promoting effective prevention practices, and to promote the safety of workers and the public;

“ground disturbance” includes excavating, digging, trenching, plowing, drilling, tunnelling, augering, backfilling, blasting, topsoil stripping, land levelling, peat removing, pushing, quarrying, clearing and grading.

“federal lands” means

(a) lands that belong to Her Majesty in right of Canada or that Her Majesty in right of Canada has the power to dispose of; and

(b) reserves, surrendered lands and any other lands that are set apart for the use and benefit of a band and that are subject to the Indian Act.

“federally regulated” means being regulated by any of the following statutes:

(a) the Aeronautics Act;

(b) the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act;

(c) the Canada Transportation Act;

(d) the National Energy Board Act;

(e) the Railway Safety Act;

(f) the Telecommunications Act; or

(g) any other federal statute specified by the Minister under section 6.

“notification centre” means a non-profit corporation established under the laws of Canada or a province and whose primary goals are to

(a) provide a single point of contact in a province between persons undertaking work that results in a ground disturbance and owners or operators of registered underground infrastructure;

(b) receive and process requests for the identification and location of underground infrastructure; and

(c) notify the owners or operators of registered underground infrastructure of any proposed construction or ground disturbance that could cause damage to any underground infrastructure that they own or operate.

“owner or operator of underground infrastructure” means a person or entity or any combination thereof that owns underground infrastructure or that undertakes or has control over one or more of the activities relating to the construction, installation, operation, maintenance or removal of that underground infrastructure;

“owner or operator of registered underground infrastructure” means the owner or operator of underground infrastructure that is registered with a notification centre.

“provincial legislation” means an Act of a province that creates an underground infrastructure notification system, and any regulations, rules or other similar instruments made under that Act;

“underground infrastructure” means cables, ducts, equipment, pipes and vaults that are buried in the ground, and any real or personal property, immovable, movable or work connected to them.

DESIGNATION

3. The Governor in Council may, by order, designate any federal Minister to be the Minister referred to in this Act.

APPLICATION

4. This Act does not apply to a ground disturbance that displaces less than 30 centimetres of ground below the initial grade and does not reduce the total cover over any underground infrastructure.

5. For the purposes of this Act, the Minister may, by order, exclude any military base or station, in whole or in part, from the application of paragraph (a) of the definition “federal lands” in section 2.

6. The Minister may, by order, specify the federal statutes that are referred to in paragraph (g) of the definition “federally regulated” in section 2.

REGISTRATION WITH NOTIFICATION CENTRE

7. The owner or operator of any underground infrastructure that is federally regulated or that is located on federal land must

(a) register the infrastructure with each notification centre that serves a province in which the infrastructure is located, if such a centre exists; and

(b) pay the registration fees fixed by a notification centre referred to in paragraph (a) or by the provincial legislation of the province in which the notification centre is located.

LOCATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF UNDERGROUND INFRASTRUCTURE

8. (1) The owner or operator of any underground infrastructure that is federally regulated or that is located on federal land must provide the following information to each notification centre that serves a province in which the underground infrastructure is located:

(a) a description of the location of the underground infrastructure, such as the digital geospatial data or legal description of the location;

(b) the name of any city, town or village in which the underground infrastructure is located in that province; and

(c) any other information that the notification centre considers necessary to exercise its functions or that the provincial legislation in which the notification centre is located requires.

(2) The person or entity referred to in subsection (1) shall also inform the notification centre of any change made to the underground infrastructure and its location.

(3) The information referred to in subsections (1) and (2) must be provided to the notification centre at the frequency, within the period and in the manner prescribed by the notification centre or the provincial legislation of the province in which the notification centre is located.

LOCATE REQUEST

9. (1) Before undertaking work that results in a ground disturbance on federal land, a person or entity must inform each notification centre that serves a province in which the federal land is located of that project.

(2) Before undertaking work that results in a ground disturbance on federal land, the person or entity referred to in subsection (1) shall also provide the notification centre with the following information:

(a) the type of project they are planning to undertake;

(b) the exact location of the anticipated ground disturbance; and

(c) any other information that the notification centre considers necessary to exercise its functions or that the provincial legislation in which the notification centre is located requires.

(3) The information referred to in subsections (1) and (2) must be provided to the notification centre within the period and in the manner prescribed by the notification centre or the provincial legislation of the province in which the notification centre is located.

10. On receipt of the notification referred to in section 9, the notification centre must, within a reasonable time after receving it, provide information about the project referred to in that section to all owners or operators of underground infrastructure that is federally regulated or is located on federal land, and that could be damaged by the project.

11. (1) Subject to the regulations, if the owner or operator of underground infrastructure receives from a notification centre a notification referred to in section 10, that owner or operator must, within the time and in the manner specified by the notification centre or by the provincial legislation of the province in which the notification centre is located,

(a) mark on the ground the location of the underground infrastructure, using the prescribed colour codes, and provide to the person undertaking the project referred to in subsection 9(1) a written description of the location of the underground infrastructure; or

(b) indicate in writing to the person referred to in paragraph (a) that the project will not cause damage to the underground infrastructure.

(2) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), the owner or operator of underground infrastructure cannot charge a fee to a person planning to undertake a project referred to in subsection 9(1) for marking the location of the underground infrastructure or providing a description or information pursuant to subsection (1).

(3) If the project referred to in subsection 9(1) requires the owner or operator of underground infrastructure to mark the location of the underground infrastructure or provide the description or information outside of its usual business hours, the owner or operator may charge the person undertaking that project a fee corresponding to the reasonable cost of marking the location or providing the description or information after the owner or operator’s usual business hours.

(4) The owner or operator of underground infrastructure may also charge that person a fee fixed or established by regulation if, on several occasions, the owner or operator was required to mark on the ground the location of the underground infrastructure or provide a description or information pursuant to subsection (1), without having the person undertaking the project in question.

DAMAGE PREVENTION ORGANIZATION

12. The Minister may assign to a damage prevention organization the functions he or she considers necessary for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

FUNDING

13. (1) The Minister may enter into an agreement regarding funding with the government of a province in order to enable the notification centre or damage prevention organization located in that province to exercise functions assigned to it under this Act.

(2) The Minister may enter into an agreement regarding funding with the government of a province for the creation of a notification centre that he or she considers necessary for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

(3) The Minister must pay to the government of the province with which he or she has entered into the agreements referred to in subsections (1) and (2) the amounts specified in them.

REGULATIONS

14. (1) The Minister may make any regulations that are necessary for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act, including regulations

(a) prescribing information that the owner or operator of underground infrastructure referred to in section 11 is not required to provide under that section, and the circumstances in which they are not required to provide such information;

(b) fixing or establishing the fees that the owner or operator of underground infrastructure referred to in section 11 may charge to a person under subsection 11(3) and (4), and specifying the meaning of “several occasions” in subsection 11(4); and

(c) prescribing anything that by this Act is to be prescribed.

(2) A regulation made under this section may incorporate by reference documents produced by an organization established for the purpose of writing standards, including an organization accredited by the Standards Council of Canada.

(3) Documents may be incorporated by reference as amended from time to time.

(4) For greater certainty, a document that is incorporated by reference in a regulation is not required to be transmitted for registration or published in the Canada Gazette under the Statutory Instruments Act by reason only that it is incorporated by reference.

CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS

National Energy Board Act

15. The National Energy Board Act is amended by adding the following after section 12.1:

Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act

16. The Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act is amended by adding the following after section 7:

Telecommunications Act

17. The Telecommunications Act is amended by adding the following after section 46.5:

18. The portion of section 72.001 of the Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

72.001 Every contravention of a provision of this Act, other than section 17 or 69.2, and every contravention of a regulation, a decision made by the Commission under this Act or an order made by the Commission under subsection 46.6(2), constitutes a violation and the person who commits the violation is liable

Canada Transportation Act

19. The Canada Transportation Act is amended by adding the following after section 158:

20. Paragraph 177(1.1)(a) of the Act is replaced by the following:

(a) designate any requirement imposed on a railway company in an arbitrator’s decision made under section 169.37 or in an order made under subsection 158.1(2) as a requirement the contravention of which may be proceeded with as a violation in accordance with sections 179 and 180; and

COMING INTO FORCE

21. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the provisions of this Act come into force on a day or days to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.

(2) No order may be made under subsection (1) unless the appropriation of moneys for the purposes of this Act has been recommended by the Governor General and such moneys have been appropriated by Parliament.