Vol. 145, No. 38 — September 17, 2011
ARCHIVED — Regulations Amending the Airport Vehicle Parking Charges Regulations
Statutory authority
Aeronautics Act and Ministerial Regulations Authorization Order
Sponsoring department
Department of Transport
REGULATORY IMPACT
ANALYSIS STATEMENT
(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)
Issue
The Airport Vehicle Parking Charges Regulations apply in respect of fees for parking services provided by the Minister of Transport at specified Transport Canada operated airports. The parking services available include metered parking, parking at a public parking lot controlled by automatic devices where the services of an attendant are not provided, and parking in an area designated as a remote public parking lot by the Minister.
On November 25, 2008, the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations — a Parliamentary Committee whose mandate involves reviewing and scrutinizing government regulations and statutory instruments — raised concern about the amounts listed in the Schedule to the Regulations, as they include not only the charge but also the applicable taxes. The Standing Joint Committee expressed the opinion that the mention of taxes in the Regulations amounted to tax collection, which is not part of the Department of Transport’s regulatory responsibilities. In consequence, Transport Canada is proposing to amend the Regulations based upon the Committee’s observations.
In addition, a number of airports mentioned in the Schedule to the Regulations are no longer operated by Transport Canada, and must be removed. Several other miscellaneous changes will be also included in the amendment.
Objectives
The objectives of the regulatory amendment are to ensure that the parking charges at airports are properly set and that the Regulations do not mention airports to which they do not apply. Therefore, the regulatory action will address the issue of inclusion of taxes in the amounts set out in the Airport Vehicle Parking Charges Regulations, remove one Transport Canada-owned and operated airport from the schedule to the Regulations, as well as remove references to airports no longer operated by Transport Canada. Several exceptions to the requirement to pay parking charges will be deleted, as they involve airports no longer operated by Transport Canada. A number of additional changes of a corrective nature are also planned.
Description
1. Reference to taxes in the Regulations
A number of different options were considered to address the references to taxes. It was decided to rectify the issue by removing references to federal and applicable provincial taxes in the determination and collection of charges, and subtracting tax amounts from the total amounts in the schedule that currently include the parking charge and the applicable taxes.
Consequently, any references to the term “amounts” will be removed from the Regulations.
2. Exceptions to the requirement to pay the parking charges
Several exceptions to the requirement to pay the parking charges will be removed, as they refer to airports no longer operated by Transport Canada.
3. Miscellaneous changes
A number of miscellaneous changes of a corrective nature will be included in the amendment to the Regulations and its Schedule.
4. Amendments to the Schedule
Columns II and III of the Schedule to the Regulations will be amended by removing the reference to airports that are no longer owned and operated by Transport Canada. Furthermore, the St. Anthony Airport will be removed from the Schedule as the Department does not intend to charge for parking at that location. Charges in Column III of the Schedule will also be amended by subtracting the applicable taxes.
Rationale
As a result of removing the taxes from the amounts charged for parking fees, the following changes will be made, based on tax rates in effect on January 1, 2011:
- For the airports located in British Columbia (Penticton, Port Hardy and Sandspit), HST in the amount of 12% is subtracted from the charge amounts;
- For the airport located in Newfoundland and Labrador (Wabush), HST in the amount of 13% is subtracted from the charge amounts; and
- For the airport located in Quebec (Sept-Îles), GST in the amount of 5% and QST in the amount of 8.5% are subtracted from the charge amount.
In accordance with the Cabinet Directive on the Environmental Assessment of Policy, Plan and Program Proposals, and the Transport Canada Policy Statement on Strategic Environmental Assessment, the Strategic Environmental Assessment process was followed for these Regulations and a preliminary scan was completed. The preliminary scan concluded that the amendment is not likely to have significant environmental effects.
Consultation
Consultations regarding the proposed amendment were held with Transport Canada regional offices, including managers of airports owned and operated by Transport Canada.
Following the pre-publication of the amendment in the Canada Gazette, Part Ⅰ, a comment period of 30 days will be allotted, and all comments received will be taken into consideration in preparation for the publication in the Canada Gazette, Part Ⅱ. Comments shall be sent to the contact named below.
Implementation, enforcement and service standards
In order to facilitate the implementation and enforcement of the Regulations, service standards are available at the following Web site: www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/airports-standards-311.htm
Once the amendments are made, the parking devices, meters and signage will be updated as required.
These amendments are administrative in nature and will not affect the present enforcement regime.
Contact
Michèle Bergevin
Director
Program Management
Airport and Port Programs Directorate
Transport Canada
112 Kent Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0N5
Telephone: 613-991-3025
Fax: 613-990-8889
Email: michele.bergevin@tc.gc.ca
Notice is hereby given that the Minister of Transport, pursuant to section 2 of the Ministerial Regulations Authorization Order (see footnote a), proposes to make the annexed Regulations Amending the Airport Vehicle Parking Charges Regulations.
Interested persons may make representations concerning the proposed Regulations within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. All such representations must be in writing and cite the Canada Gazette, Part Ⅰ, and the date of publication of this notice, and be sent to Michèle Bergevin, Director, Program Management (AHPP), Department of Transport, Place de Ville, Tower B, 112 Kent Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N5 (tel.: 613-991-3025; fax: 613-990-8889; email: michele.bergevin@tc.gc.ca; Internet address: http://www.tc.gc.ca).
Ottawa, August 31, 2011
DENIS LEBEL
Minister of Transport
REGULATIONS AMENDING THE AIRPORT VEHICLE PARKING CHARGES REGULATIONS
AMENDMENTS
1. The long title of the Airport Vehicle Parking Charges Regulations (see footnote 1) is replaced by the following:
AIRPORT VEHICLE PARKING CHARGES REGULATIONS
2. Section 1 of the Regulations and the heading before it are repealed.
3. Sections 2 and 3 of the Regulations are replaced by the following:
2. (1) These Regulations apply in respect of parking services provided by the Minister of Transport in an area accessible to the public at an airport that is operated by the Minister and set out in the schedule.
(2) These Regulations do not apply
- (a) to a member of the Senate for the parking of the member’s vehicle at the airport serving the city, town or municipality where the member resides in areas identified by the Minister of Transport for such parking; and
- (b) to a member of the House of Commons for the parking of the member’s vehicle at the airport serving his or her electoral district in areas identified by the Minister of Transport for such parking.
3. The user of a parking service set out in Column 1 of the schedule, at the airport set out in Column 2, must pay the charge set out in Column 3.
4. The portion of section 4 of the Regulations before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:
4. The charge referred to in section 3 must be paid
5. The schedule to the Regulations is replaced by the schedule set out in the schedule to these Regulations.
COMING INTO FORCE
6. These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.
SCHEDULE
(Section 5)
SCHEDULE
(Subsection 2(1) and section 3)
AIRPORT VEHICLE PARKING CHARGES
|
|
Column 1 |
Column 2 |
Column 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1. |
Metered parking |
(1) Penticton |
0.22 per period of 25 minutes or less |
|
(2) Wabush |
0.2175 per period of 20 minutes or less |
||
|
2. |
Parking at a public parking lot controlled by automatic devices without an attendant |
(1) Penticton |
|
|
(2) Port Hardy |
|
||
|
(3) Sandspit |
|
||
|
(4) Sept-Îles |
2.595 maximum per 24-hour period |
||
|
(5) Wabush |
|
||
|
3. |
Parking in an area designated by the Minister as a remote public parking lot |
Penticton |
17.60 per month |
[38-1-o]
Footnote a
SOR/86-631
Footnote 1
SOR/87-543