Explanatory Note

This Bill enacts the Resort Timber Administration Act. The Act will further the establishment of a consistent and coordinated approach to the management under the Forest Act and the Forest and Range Practices Act of timber resources on Crown land that lies within controlled recreation areas.

The Act will authorize the Lieutenant Governor in Council to make regulations

• designating Crown land as a controlled recreation area, and
• designating any provision of the Forest Act, the Forest and Range Practices Act or the regulations under either Act as a "specified enactment" for the purposes of the Resort Timber Administration Act.

Designation of such a provision as a specified enactment transfers the powers, discretions, functions and duties under the provision from the relevant officials of the Ministry of Forests and Range to the Minister of Tourism, Sports and the Arts and officials authorized by the latter minister. The transferred powers, discretions, functions and duties apply only in controlled recreation areas.

Such transfers will achieve efficiencies by allowing operators of all seasons resorts to apply at a single ministry (the tourism ministry), both in regards to establishing and operating the resorts on Crown land and in relation to associated timber harvesting and timber management issues.

The Act will impose the safeguard that, before designating a provision of the forests and range ministry statutes as a specified enactment, the Lieutenant Governor in Council must be satisfied that the designation is "necessary or desirable in relation to the planning, development, construction, operation or maintenance of an all seasons resort in a controlled recreation area."

This Bill includes a consequential amendment to section 47.6 (2) of the Forest Act to provide for issuance of a forestry licence to cut to authorize the harvesting of timber for "prescribed purposes or in prescribed circumstances" and up to a maximum volume that may be imposed by regulation. Those purposes and circumstances could include ones relevant to all seasons resorts in controlled recreation areas. In that case, the designation of section 47.6 (2) (c) of the Forest Act and related regulations as specified enactments for the purposes of the Resort Timber Administration Act would transfer to the tourism minister the responsibility for forestry licences to cut that are applicable to all seasons resorts in controlled recreation areas.

BILL 24 – 2006
RESORT TIMBER ADMINISTRATION ACT

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

Definitions

1 In this Act:

"all seasons resort" means a resort business operated or intended to be operated for the purpose of providing

(a) single-seasonal or multi-seasonal recreational activities, and

(b) facilities for or related to those recreational activities,

and includes a resort operated principally to provide alpine skiing and snowboarding to customers by fixed lifts, in return for user fees;

"controlled recreation area" means an area designated by regulation under section 4;

"forests and range ministry statutes" means the Forest Act and the Forest and Range Practices Act and includes the regulations under the Forest Act and the regulations under the Forest and Range Practices Act;

"specified enactment" means a provision of the forests and range ministry statutes, pertaining to the forest resources of the Crown, that is designated by regulation under section 4;

"tourism minister" means the minister responsible for the Tourism Act and includes a delegate, under section 2, of the tourism minister.

Minister may delegate powers and duties

2 (1) The tourism minister, by conditional or unconditional written authority, may delegate the tourism minister's powers and duties under this Act to an employee in the ministry of the tourism minister.

(2) A delegation under this section may be made by reference to the delegate's name or title.

Minister's responsibilities under specified enactments

3 (1) In relation to a controlled recreation area or an all seasons resort in a controlled recreation area, the tourism minister, instead of any official referred to in a specified enactment,

(a) has all the powers pertaining to a discretion, function or duty referred to in the specified enactment, and

(b) is charged with all the responsibilities pertaining to that discretion, function or duty.

(2) Each of the tourism minister's powers, discretions, functions and duties under a specified enactment applies only in controlled recreation areas.

(3) The exercise of the powers conferred on the tourism minister by this section, the carrying out of each discretion, function and duty under a specified enactment and the responsibilities with which the tourism minister is charged under this section remain subject in all respects to whichever of the forests and range ministry statutes contains the specified enactment.

Power to make regulations

4 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations referred to in section 41 of the Interpretation Act.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations

(a) designating Crown land as a controlled recreation area, cancelling such a designation or amending the boundaries of a controlled recreation area, and

(b) subject to subsection (3), designating any provision of the forests and range ministry statutes as a specified enactment for the purposes of this Act.

(3) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may not make a designation under subsection (2) (b) unless satisfied that

(a) the exercise of a power or discretion, or

(b) the carrying out of a function or duty

under the provision proposed for designation is necessary or desirable in relation to the planning, development, construction, operation or maintenance of an all seasons resort in a controlled recreation area.

(4) In making a regulation under this Act, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make different regulations for different circumstances, persons, places, things or transactions.

 
Consequential Amendments

 
Forest Act

5 Section 47.6 (2) of the Forest Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 157, is amended

(a) in paragraph (b) by striking out "conditions, or" and substituting "conditions,",

(b) by repealing paragraph (c) and substituting the following:

(c) if authorized to do so under another provision of this Act, or , and

(c) by adding the following paragraph:

(d) to authorize the harvesting of timber for prescribed purposes or in prescribed circumstances.

6 Section 151 (2) is amended by adding the following paragraph:

(z) the maximum volume of timber that may be specified in a forestry licence to cut entered into under section 47.6 (2) (d).

Commencement

7 This Act comes into force on the date of Royal Assent.

 
Explanatory Note

This Bill enacts the Resort Timber Administration Act. The Act will further the establishment of a consistent and coordinated approach to the management under the Forest Act and the Forest and Range Practices Act of timber resources on Crown land that lies within controlled recreation areas.

The Act will authorize the Lieutenant Governor in Council to make regulations

• designating Crown land as a controlled recreation area, and
• designating any provision of the Forest Act, the Forest and Range Practices Act or the regulations under either Act as a "specified enactment" for the purposes of the Resort Timber Administration Act.

Designation of such a provision as a specified enactment transfers the powers, discretions, functions and duties under the provision from the relevant officials of the Ministry of Forests and Range to the Minister of Tourism, Sports and the Arts and officials authorized by the latter minister. The transferred powers, discretions, functions and duties apply only in controlled recreation areas.

Such transfers will achieve efficiencies by allowing operators of all seasons resorts to apply at a single ministry (the tourism ministry), both in regards to establishing and operating the resorts on Crown land and in relation to associated timber harvesting and timber management issues.

The Act will impose the safeguard that, before designating a provision of the forests and range ministry statutes as a specified enactment, the Lieutenant Governor in Council must be satisfied that the designation is "necessary or desirable in relation to the planning, development, construction, operation or maintenance of an all seasons resort in a controlled recreation area."

This Bill includes a consequential amendment to section 47.6 (2) of the Forest Act to provide for issuance of a forestry licence to cut to authorize the harvesting of timber for "prescribed purposes or in prescribed circumstances" and up to a maximum volume that may be imposed by regulation. Those purposes and circumstances could include ones relevant to all seasons resorts in controlled recreation areas. In that case, the designation of section 47.6 (2) (c) of the Forest Act and related regulations as specified enactments for the purposes of the Resort Timber Administration Act would transfer to the tourism minister the responsibility for forestry licences to cut that are applicable to all seasons resorts in controlled recreation areas.