BILL 67 – 2004
EXPROPRIATION AMENDMENT ACT, 2004

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

1 Section 1 of the Expropriation Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 125, is amended

(a) by repealing the definitions of "board", "chair" and "vice chair",

(b) by adding the following definition:

"court" means

(a) subject to paragraph (b), the Supreme Court, or

(b) in sections 7 (2) (a) (i) and 33 (b), any court; , and

(c) by repealing the definition of "registrar" and substituting the following:

"registrar", except in reference to a registrar of the court, means a registrar as defined in the Land Title Act; .

2 Sections 3 (1) (b) and (2) (b), 20 (4), (6), (9) and (11), 25, 26 (1) and (3), 30 (2), 31 (1), 34 (2) and (4), 39, 40 (5), 41 (3), 42 (1), 44 (2), 45 (5), (6) and (9), 46 (1) (b) (ii) and (4), 47 and 50 (1) and (2) are amended by striking out "board" wherever it appears and substituting "court".

3 Sections 6 (5), 22 and 23 (7) and (8) are amended by striking out "Supreme Court" and substituting "court".

4 Section 10 (2) and (3) (c) is amended by striking out "board" and substituting "minister".

5 Section 11 is amended

(a) in subsection (1) by striking out everything before paragraph (a) and substituting "The inquiry officer may, by order, refuse to hold a public inquiry if, on the application of the expropriating authority and after granting both parties the opportunity to be heard, the inquiry officer considers that", and

(b) in subsection (2) by striking out "If an order is made to deny the request under subsection (1), the board" and substituting "If the inquiry officer makes an order under subsection (1), the inquiry officer".

6 Section 12 is amended

(a) by repealing subsection (1) and substituting the following:

(1) If the minister receives a request under section 10, the minister must, within 7 days after service under section 10 (3) (c), appoint an inquiry officer who, subject to section 11, must hold a public inquiry. , and

(b) in subsection (2) (c) by striking out "denied" and substituting "refused".

7 Sections 13 (1) and 17 are amended by striking out "chair or a member of the board" and substituting "minister".

8 Section 14 (1) is amended by striking out "The inquiry officer" and substituting "Subject to section 11, the inquiry officer".

9 Section 18 (2) (a) is amended by striking out "denied," and substituting "refused,".

10 Section 19 (4) (b) is amended by striking out "the chair under section 45." and substituting "a registrar of the court."

11 Sections 21 (2) and (3) and 45 (2) are amended by striking out "chair" and substituting "court".

12 Section 21 (2) is amended by striking out "his or her" and substituting "the".

13 Section 26 is amended

(a) by adding "and" at the end of subsection (1) (b) and by repealing subsections (1) (c), (2) and (4) to (7), and

(b) in subsection (3) by striking out "issue a certificate" and substituting "make an order".

14 Section 27 is repealed and the following substituted:

Practice and procedure

27 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may, by regulation, make rules governing the court's practice and procedure in a proceeding under this Act.

(2) If there is any inconsistency or conflict between a rule made under subsection (1) and a rule made under the Court Rules Act, the rule made under subsection (1) prevails.

15 Section 28 is repealed.

16 Section 30 (2) is amended by striking out "certify the amount of the difference, and that amount is a debt due and payable to the expropriating authority recoverable by action from the owner to whom the overpayment was made." and substituting "order the amount of the difference as payable to the expropriating authority by the owner to whom the overpayment was made."

17 Section 45 is amended

(a) in subsections (8) and (9) by striking out "the chair." and substituting "a registrar of the court.", and

(b) by repealing subsections (11) and (12).

18 Section 48 is amended

(a) in subsections (2) and (3) by striking out "the chair" and substituting "a registrar of the court",

(b) by repealing subsection (4), and

(c) in subsection (6) by striking out "Section 45 (7), (11) and (12) apply" and substituting "Section 45 (7) applies".

19 Section 53 is repealed and the following substituted:

Inquiry officer compensation

53 Inquiry officers must be reimbursed for reasonable travelling and out of pocket expenses necessarily incurred in the discharge of their duties under this Act and may be paid remuneration for their services and serve in accordance with other terms and conditions as the minister may order.

20 Sections 53.1 and 55 are repealed.

 
Transitional Provision

Transitional -- proceedings continued before the Expropriation Compensation Board

21 (1) In this section, "expropriation enactments" means

(a) the Expropriation Act and the regulations under that Act, and

(b) the Acts consequentially amended by this Act and the regulations under those Acts, insofar as those Acts and regulations relate to an expropriation.

(2) Despite this Act, the expropriation enactments, as they read immediately before the repeal of section 53 (1) of the Expropriation Act, continue to apply to a proceeding before the Expropriation Compensation Board if the board mailed a notice of hearing in respect of that proceeding before the repeal of section 53 (1) of the Expropriation Act.

 
Consequential Amendments

 
Administrative Tribunals Act

22 Sections 94 to 98 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, S.B.C. 2004, c. 45, are repealed.

 
Community Charter

23 Sections 33 (3) (b) and 50 (4) (a) of the Community Charter, S.B.C. 2003, c. 26, are amended by striking out "by the Expropriation Compensation Board" and substituting "by the Supreme Court".

 
Drainage, Ditch and Dike Act

24 Section 108 of the Drainage, Ditch and Dike Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 102, is amended by striking out "by the Expropriation Compensation Board established under the Expropriation Act." and substituting "by the Supreme Court in accordance with the Expropriation Act."

 
Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act

25 Schedule 2 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 165, is amended by repealing the following:

 
Health Act

26 Section 21 of the Health Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 179, is amended by striking out "by the Expropriation Compensation Board established under the Expropriation Act." and substituting "by the Supreme Court."

 
Hydro and Power Authority Act

27 Sections 16 (9) and 20 (2) of the Hydro and Power Authority Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 212, are amended by striking out "by the Expropriation Compensation Board established under the Expropriation Act." and substituting "by the Supreme Court."

 
Local Government Act

28 Section 312 (3) (b) of the Local Government Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 323, is amended by striking out "by the Expropriation Compensation Board." and substituting "by the Supreme Court."

29 Section 749 (2) is amended by striking out "Expropriation Compensation Board" and substituting "Supreme Court".

 
Ministry of Transportation and Highways Act

30 Section 17 (2) of the Ministry of Transportation and Highways Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 311, is amended by striking out "by the Expropriation Compensation Board under the Expropriation Act." and substituting "by the Supreme Court."

 
Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2003

31 Sections 15 to 18 of the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2003, S.B.C. 2003, c. 37, are repealed.

 
Public Sector Employers Act

32 The Schedule to the Public Sector Employers Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 384, is amended by striking out "Expropriation Compensation Board".

 
Railway Act

33 Sections 33 (4) and 53 (1) of the Railway Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 395, are amended by striking out "the Expropriation Compensation Board under the Expropriation Act" and substituting "the court".

 
Transportation Act

34 Section 9 (4) of the Transportation Act, S.B.C. 2004, c. 44, is amended by striking out "by the Expropriation Compensation Board established under the Expropriation Act." and substituting "by the Supreme Court."

35 Section 104 is repealed.

 
Vancouver Charter

36 Section 544 of the Vancouver Charter, S.B.C. 1953, c. 55, is amended by striking out "by the Expropriation Compensation Board established under the Expropriation Act." and substituting "by the court in accordance with the Expropriation Act."

37 Section 613 (3) (b) is amended by striking out "Expropriation Compensation Board." and substituting "court in accordance with the Expropriation Act."

 
Water Act

38 Section 46 (2) (c) of the Water Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 483, is amended by striking out "the Expropriation Compensation Board" and substituting "a court".

39 Section 101 (3) (b), as enacted by section 99 of the Drinking Water Protection Act, S.B.C. 2001, c. 9, is amended by striking out "the Expropriation Compensation Board" and substituting "a court".

 
Amendments to this Act

40 Section 30 of this Act is repealed.

41 Section 35 is repealed.

42 Section 38 is repealed.

Commencement

43 The provisions of this Act referred to in column 1 of the following table come into force as set out in column 2 of the table: