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 Coastal Ferry Act, S.B.C. 2003, c. 14, is amended in the definition of "executive" by adding "or vice president" after "or an executive vice president" in both places.

2 Section 5 (3) is amended

(a) by adding "and" at the end of paragraph (b),

(b) in paragraph (c) by striking out "2" and substituting "4" and by striking out "and", and

(c) by repealing paragraph (d).

3 The following section is added to Division 2.1 of Part 2:

Oversight of BCFS

21.01  (1) The Authority, as sole voting shareholder of BCFS, is to oversee the strategic direction of BCFS in support of the public interest, including the public's interest in safe, reliable and affordable coastal ferry services in British Columbia.

(2) BCFS must provide to the Authority information reasonably required by the Authority in carrying out its oversight role under subsection (1).

(3) The directors of the Authority must make public an annual report, published with the annual report required under section 18 (4), that describes findings made and actions taken, if any, during the year in carrying out its oversight role under subsection (1).

4 Section 21.1 is amended by renumbering the section as section 21.1 (1) and by adding the following subsections:

(2) The Authority may set the term of an individual elected as a director to the board of BCFS, which term may not exceed 4 years.

(3) An individual may not hold office as a director of the board of BCFS for a consecutive period exceeding 8 years.

5 Section 38 (1) is amended

(a) by adding "in the public interest and" after "undertake that regulation",

(b) by adding the following paragraph:

(a.1) ferry operators are to be encouraged to meet provincial greenhouse gas emission targets in their operations and when developing capital plans; , and

(c) by repealing paragraphs (b) and (c).

6 Section 40 (1) (f) is repealed.

7 Section 45.1 (2) is repealed and the following substituted:

(2) If the commissioner makes the determination referred to in subsection (1), the commissioner must regulate the ferry transportation service by calculating the amount that the commissioner considers would be charged as a tariff for that ferry transportation service to recover the direct costs and an appropriate proportion of the indirect costs attributable to providing the service were none of the factors referred to in subsection (1) of this section present, and the commissioner must order the ferry operator to charge at least that tariff when providing that ferry transportation service.

8 The following section is added:

Participation costs of eligible organizations

46.2  (1) In this section, "eligible organization" means an organization that, in the opinion of the commissioner,

(a) is a non-profit or volunteer organization, and

(b) represents the interests of non-commercial ferry users.

(2) If the commissioner considers it in the public interest, the commissioner may pay all or part of the costs incurred by an eligible organization in participating in a proceeding under this Act in which the commissioner has invited public comment.

9 Section 57 is amended by striking out "and any remuneration and expenses of inspectors" and substituting ", any remuneration and expenses of inspectors and any payments made under section 46.2".

10 Section 64.1 (3) is repealed.

11 Section 66 (1) (a) is amended by adding "and" at the end of subparagraph (i) and by repealing subparagraph (iii).

12 Section 69 is repealed.

Commencement

13  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:

 
Explanatory Notes

SECTION 1: [Coastal Ferry Act, section 1] expands the scope of a definition.

SECTION 2: [Coastal Ferry Act, section 5] increases the number of persons appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council as directors of the Authority from 2 to 4 and eliminates the community at large appointments.

SECTION 3: [Coastal Ferry Act, section 21.01] sets out that the Authority is to oversee the strategic direction of the BCFS.

SECTION 4: [Coastal Ferry Act, section 21.1] establishes parameters for terms of directors of the board of the BCFS.

SECTION 5: [Coastal Ferry Act, section 38] expands the role of the commissioner.

SECTION 6: [Coastal Ferry Act, section 40] repeals a provision.

SECTION 7: [Coastal Ferry Act, section 45.1] repeals a provision and makes a consequential housekeeping amendment.

SECTION 8: [Coastal Ferry Act, section 46.2] authorizes the commissioner to pay indicated costs incurred.

SECTION 9: [Coastal Ferry Act, section 57] is consequential to the amendment made by this Bill to section 46.2 of the Act.

SECTION 10: [Coastal Ferry Act, section 64.1] repeals a section.

SECTION 11: [Coastal Ferry Act, section 66] removes a reference to a repealed section.

SECTION 12: [Coastal Ferry Act, section 69] repeals a section.