Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006 (S.C. 2006, c. 13)

Evidence and Procedure

Marginal note:Sending by mail

• 97 (1) For the purposes of this Act and subject to subsection (2), anything sent by registered, certified or first class mail is deemed to have been received by the person to whom it was sent on the day it was mailed.

• Marginal note:Payment

  (2) A person who is required under this Act to pay an amount is deemed not to have paid it until it is received by the Receiver General.

Marginal note:Proof of sending by mail

• 98 (1) If, under this Act, provision is made for sending by mail a request for information, a notice or a demand, an affidavit of an employee of the Agency, sworn before a commissioner or other person authorized to take affidavits, is evidence of the sending and of the request, notice or demand if the affidavit sets out that

  • (a) the employee has knowledge of the facts in the particular case;

  • (b) such a request, notice or demand was sent by registered or certified mail on a specified day to a specified person and address; and

  • (c) the employee identifies as exhibits attached to the affidavit the post office certificate of registration of the letter or a true copy of the relevant portion of the certificate and a true copy of the request, notice or demand.

• Marginal note:Proof of personal service

  (2) If, under this Act, provision is made for personal service of a request for information, a notice or a demand, an affidavit of an employee of the Agency, sworn before a commissioner or other person authorized to take affidavits, is evidence of the personal service and of the request, notice or demand if the affidavit sets out that

  • (a) the employee has knowledge of the facts in the particular case;

  • (b) such a request, notice or demand was served personally on a specified day on the person to whom it was directed; and

  • (c) the employee identifies as an exhibit attached to the affidavit a true copy of the request, notice or demand.

• Marginal note:Proof of failure to comply

  (3) If, under this Act, a person is required to make a return, an application, a statement, an answer or a certificate, an affidavit of an employee of the Agency, sworn before a commissioner or other person authorized to take affidavits, setting out that the employee has charge of the appropriate records and that, after a careful examination and search of the records, the employee has been unable to find in a given case that the return, application, statement, answer or certificate has been made by that person, is evidence that in that case the person did not make the return, application, statement, answer or certificate.

• Marginal note:Proof of time of compliance

  (4) If, under this Act, a person is required to make a return, an application, a statement, an answer or a certificate, an affidavit of an employee of the Agency, sworn before a commissioner or other person authorized to take affidavits, setting out that the employee has charge of the appropriate records and that, after a careful examination of the records, the employee has found that the return, application, statement, answer or certificate was filed or made on a particular day, is evidence that it was filed or made on that day.

• Marginal note:Proof of documents

  (5) An affidavit of an employee of the Agency, sworn before a commissioner or other person authorized to take affidavits, setting out that the employee has charge of the appropriate records and that a document attached to the affidavit is a document or true copy of a document made by or on behalf of the Minister or a person exercising the powers of the Minister or by or on behalf of a person, is evidence of the nature and contents of the document.

• Marginal note:Proof of no appeal

  (6) An affidavit of an employee of the Agency, sworn before a commissioner or other person authorized to take affidavits, setting out that the employee has charge of the appropriate records and has knowledge of the practice of the Agency and that an examination of the records shows that a notice of assessment was mailed or otherwise sent to a person on a particular day under this Act and that, after a careful examination and search of the records, the employee has been unable to find that a notice of objection or of appeal from the assessment was received within the time allowed for an objection or appeal to be filed under this Act, is evidence of the statements contained in the affidavit.

• Marginal note:Presumption

  (7) If evidence is offered under this section by an affidavit from which it appears that the person making the affidavit is an employee of the Agency, it is not necessary to prove the signature of the person or that the person is such an employee, nor is it necessary to prove the signature or official character of the person before whom the affidavit was sworn.

• Marginal note:Proof of documents

  (8) Every document purporting to have been executed under or in the course of the administration or enforcement of this Act over the name in writing of the Minister, the Commissioner or an employee authorized to exercise the powers or perform the duties of the Minister under this Act is deemed to be a document signed, made and issued by the Minister, the Commissioner or the employee, unless it has been called into question by the Minister or a person acting for the Minister or for Her Majesty in right of Canada.

• Marginal note:Mailing date

  (9) If a notice or demand that the Minister is required or authorized under this Act to send by mail to a person is mailed to the person, the day of mailing is deemed to be the date of the notice or demand.

• Marginal note:Date when assessment made

  (10) If a notice of assessment has been sent by the Minister as required under this Act, the assessment is deemed to have been made on the day of mailing of the notice of assessment.

• Marginal note:Proof of return

  (11) In a prosecution for an offence under this Act, the production of a return, an application, a certificate, a statement or an answer required under this Act, purporting to have been filed or delivered by or on behalf of the person charged with the offence or to have been made or signed by or on behalf of that person, is evidence that the return, application, certificate, statement or answer was filed or delivered by or on behalf of that person or was made or signed by or on behalf of that person.

• Marginal note:Proof of return — printouts

  (12) For the purposes of this Act, a document presented by the Minister purporting to be a printout of the information in respect of a person shall be received as evidence and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is proof of the return filed by the person.

• Marginal note:Proof of return — production of returns, etc.

  (13) In a proceeding under this Act, the production of a return, an application, a certificate, a statement or an answer required under this Act, purporting to have been filed, delivered, made or signed by or on behalf of a person, is evidence that the return, application, certificate, statement or answer was filed, delivered, made or signed by or on behalf of that person.

• Marginal note:Evidence

  (14) In a prosecution for an offence under this Act, an affidavit of an employee of the Agency, sworn before a commissioner or other person authorized to take affidavits, setting out that the employee has charge of the appropriate records and that an examination of the records shows that an amount required under this Act to be paid to the Receiver General has not been received by the Receiver General, is evidence of the statements contained in the affidavit.

• Marginal note:Probative force of copy

  (15) Any copy of an original record made under section 79 that is purported to be certified by the Minister or an employee to be a copy of the original record is evidence of the nature and content of the original record, and has the same probative force as the original record would have if it were proven in the ordinary way.

Payments to Provinces

Marginal note:Distribution of revenue

• 99 (1) The Minister shall distribute, among the provinces from which the softwood lumber products originate, the revenue derived by Her Majesty in right of Canada from the charge imposed on those products under section 10 or 15, less any refunds and less the following costs incurred by Her Majesty in right of Canada, as determined by the Minister,

  • (a) costs incurred in the administration of this Act and the softwood lumber agreement, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Export and Import Permits Act; and

  • (b) costs incurred in relation to any litigation, including damages, in respect of this Act or that agreement.

• Marginal note:Calculations

  (1.1) The portion of the revenue to be distributed to a province shall be calculated in respect of each fiscal quarter in a fiscal year.

• Definition of fiscal year

  (1.2) In subsection (1.1), fiscal year means the period beginning on April 1 in one year and ending on March 31 in the next year.

• Marginal note:Revenue

  (1.3) The amount of revenue to be attributed to a province for a fiscal quarter is the revenue derived from the charge imposed under section 10 or 15 on softwood lumber products originating from that province.

• Marginal note:Costs

  (1.4) The amount of the costs referred to in paragraphs (1)(a) and (b) to be attributed to a province for a fiscal quarter is determined by the formula

  A × (B/C) + D

  where

  A

  is the costs that the Minister becomes aware of during the fiscal quarter;

  B

  is the volume in board feet of softwood lumber products exported from the province to the United States during the fiscal quarter under export permits;

  C

  is the volume in board feet of softwood lumber products exported from all of the provinces to the United States during the fiscal quarter under export permits; and

  D

  is the total amount of the costs attributed to the province for previous fiscal quarters, including any fiscal quarter that is before the day on which this subsection comes into force, that have not already been deducted from revenue transfers to that province and that have not been previously collected under section 40.1 of the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act or through voluntary payments by that province to Her Majesty in right of Canada.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (1.5) In the case of the costs referred to in paragraph (1)(b), the formula applies unless the Minister determines under subsection (1) that the costs are to be attributed otherwise.

• Marginal note:Amount equal to or less than zero

  (1.6) If, after deducting any refunds and the costs referred to in paragraphs (1)(a) and (b), the resulting amount with respect to a province is equal to or less than zero, the Minister is not required to distribute any portion of the revenue to that province.

• Marginal note:Reconciliation

  (1.7) Except for the final reconciliation, a reconciliation of the amounts used in calculations is to be made annually.

• Marginal note:Amount of payments

  (2) The amount to be paid to a province shall be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (3) The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister for International Trade, make regulations generally to carry out the purposes of this section.

Regulations

Marginal note:Regulations — general

• 100 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations

  • (a) respecting the duration, amendment, suspension, renewal, cancellation or reinstatement of a certification under section 25;

  • (b) prescribing any matter or thing that by this Act is to be or may be prescribed; and

  • (c) generally to carry out the purposes and provisions of this Act.

• (2) [Repealed, 2014, c. 20, s. 312]

Marginal note:Effect

101 A regulation made under this Act has effect from the day it is published in the Canada Gazette or at any later time that may be specified in the regulation, unless it provides otherwise and

• (a) has a relieving effect only;

• (b) corrects an ambiguous or deficient enactment that was not in accordance with the objects of this Act;

• (c) is consequential on an amendment to this Act that is applicable before the day on which the regulation is published in the Canada Gazette; or

• (d) gives effect to a budgetary or other public announcement, in which case the regulation shall not, unless paragraph (a), (b) or (c) applies, have effect before the day on which the announcement was made.

Expiry

Marginal note:Regulation

102 The Governor in Council may, by regulation, declare that any of sections 10 to 15 cease to be in force on a day or days fixed in the regulation.

Payment to Accounts

Marginal note:Payment

103 From and out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund there may, on the requisition of the Minister for International Trade, be paid and applied a sum or sums for payment to any account as determined by that Minister in order to meet Canada’s financial obligations under the softwood lumber agreement, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Export and Import Permits Act.