Constitution Act, 1867 (annotated)/Part VIII

Contents

Part VIII: Revenues; Debts; Assets; Taxation

102. Creation of Consolidated Revenue Fund.

103. Expenses of Collection, etc.

104. Interest of Provincial Public Debts.

105. Salary of Governor General.

106. Appropriation from Time to Time.

107. Transfer of Stocks, etc.

108. Transfer of Property in Schedule.

109. Property in Lands, Mines, etc.

110. Assets connected with Provincial Debts.

111. Canada to be liable for Provincial Debts.

112. Debts of Ontario and Quebec.

113. Assets of Ontario and Quebec.

114. Debt of Nova Scotia.

115. Debt of New Brunswick.

116. Payment of interest to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

117. Provincial Public Property.

118. [Repealed]

119. Further Grant to New Brunswick.

120. Form of Payments.

121. Canadian Manufactures, etc.

122. Continuance of Customs and Excise Laws.

123. Exportation and Importation as between Two Provinces.

124. Lumber Dues in New Brunswick.

125. Exemption of Public Lands, etc.

126. Provincial Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Notes

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		VIII: Revenues; Debts; Assets; Taxation
Creation of Consolidated Revenue Fund.	102.	All Duties and Revenues over which the respective Legislatures of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick before and at the Union had and have Power of Appropriation, except such Portions thereof as are by this Act reserved to the respective Legislatures of the Provinces, or are raised by them in accordance with the special Powers conferred on them by this Act, shall form One Consolidated Revenue Fund, to be appropriated for the Public Service of Canada in the Manner and subject to the Charges in this Act provided.
Expenses of Collection, etc.	103.	The Consolidated Revenue Fund of Canada shall be permanently charged with the Costs, Charges, and Expenses incident to the Collection, Management, and Receipt thereof, and the same shall form the First Charge thereon, subject to be reviewed and audited in such Manner as shall be ordered by the Governor General in Council until the Parliament otherwise provides.
Interest of Provincial Public Debts.	104.	The annual Interest of the Public Debts of the several Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick at the Union shall form the Second Charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Canada.
Salary of Governor General.	105.	Unless altered by the Parliament of Canada, the Salary of the Governor General shall be Ten thousand Pounds Sterling Money of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, payable out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Canada, and the same shall form the Third Charge thereon.[1]
Appropriation from Time to Time.	106.	Subject to the several Payments by this Act charged on the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Canada, the same shall be appropriated by the Parliament of Canada for the Public Service.
Transfer of Stocks, etc.	107.	All Stocks, Cash, Banker's Balances, and Securities for Money belonging to each Province at the Time of the Union, except as in this Act mentioned, shall be the Property of Canada, and shall be taken in Reduction of the Amount of the respective Debts of the Provinces at the Union.
Transfer of Property in Schedule.	108.	The Public Works and Property of each Province, enumerated in the Third Schedule to this Act, shall be the Property of Canada.
Property in Lands, Mines, etc.	109.	All Lands, Mines, Minerals, and Royalties belonging to the several Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick at the Union, and all Sums then due or payable for such Lands, Mines, Minerals, or Royalties, shall belong to the several Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick in which the same are situate or arise, subject to any Trusts existing in respect thereof, and to any Interest other than that of the Province in the same.[2]
Assets connected with Provincial Debts.	110.	All Assets connected with such Portions of the Public Debt of each Province as are assumed by that Province shall belong to that Province.
Canada to be liable for Provincial Debts.	111.	Canada shall be liable for the Debts and Liabilities of each Province existing at the Union.
Debts of Ontario and Quebec.	112.	Ontario and Quebec conjointly shall be liable to Canada for the Amount (if any) by which the Debt of the Province of Canada exceeds at the Union Sixty-two million five hundred thousand Dollars, and shall be charged with Interest at the Rate of Five per Centum per Annum thereon.
Assets of Ontario and Quebec.	113.	The Assets enumerated in the Fourth Schedule to this Act belonging at the Union to the Province of Canada shall be the Property of Ontario and Quebec conjointly.
Debt of Nova Scotia.	114.	Nova Scotia shall be liable to Canada for the Amount (if any) by which its Public Debt exceeds at the Union Eight million Dollars, and shall be charged with Interest at the Rate of Five per Centum per Annum thereon.[3]
Debt of New Brunswick.	115.	New Brunswick shall be liable to Canada for the Amount (if any) by which its Public Debt exceeds at the Union Seven million Dollars, and shall be charged with Interest at the Rate of Five per Centum per Annum thereon.
Payment of interest to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.	116.	In case the Public Debts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick do not at the Union amount to Eight million and Seven million Dollars respectively, they shall respectively receive by half -yearly Payments in advance from the Government of Canada Interest at Five per Centum per Annum on the Difference between the actual Amounts of their respective Debts and such stipulated Amounts.
Provincial Public Property.	117.	The several Provinces shall retain all their respective Public Property not otherwise disposed of in this Act, subject to the Right of Canada to assume any Lands or Public Property required for Fortifications or for the Defence of the Country.
[Repealed]	118.	Repealed.[4]
Further Grant to New Brunswick.	119.	New Brunswick shall receive by half-yearly Payments in advance from Canada for the Period of Ten Years from the Union an additional Allowance of Sixty-three thousand Dollars per Annum; but as long as the Public Debt of that Province remains under Seven million Dollars, a Deduction equal to the Interest at Five per Centum per Annum on such Deficiency shall be made from that Allowance of Sixty-three thousand Dollars.[5]
Form of Payments.	120.	All Payments to be made under this Act, or in discharge of Liabilities created under any Act of the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick respectively, and assumed by Canada, shall, until the Parliament of Canada otherwise directs, be made in such Form and Manner as may from Time to Time be ordered by the Governor General in Council.
Canadian Manufactures, etc.	121.	All Articles of the Growth, Produce, or Manufacture of any one of the Provinces shall, from and after the Union, be admitted free into each of the other Provinces.
Continuance of Customs and Excise Laws.	122.	The Customs and Excise Laws of each Province shall, subject to the Provisions of this Act, continue in force until altered by the Parliament of Canada.[6]
Exportation and Importation as between Two Provinces.	123.	Where Customs Duties are, at the Union, leviable on any Goods, Wares, or Merchandises in any Two Provinces, those Goods, Wares, and Merchandises may, from and after the Union, be imported from one of those Provinces into the other of them on Proof of Payment of the Customs Duty leviable thereon in the Province of Exportation, and on Payment of such further Amount (if any) of Customs Duty as is leviable thereon in the Province of Importation.[7]
Lumber Dues in New Brunswick.	124.	Nothing in this Act shall affect the Right of New Brunswick to levy the Lumber Dues provided in Chapter Fifteen of Title Three of the Revised Statutes of New Brunswick, or in any Act amending that Act before or after the Union, and not increasing the Amount of such Dues; but the Lumber of any of the Provinces other than New Brunswick shall not be subject to such Dues.[8]
Exemption of Public Lands, etc.	125.	No Lands or Property belonging to Canada or any Province shall be liable to Taxation.
Provincial Consolidated Revenue Fund.	126.	Such Portions of the Duties and Revenues over which the respective Legislatures of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick had before the Union Power of Appropriation as are by this Act reserved to the respective Governments or Legislatures of the Provinces, and all Duties and Revenues raised by them in accordance with the special Powers conferred upon them by this Act, shall in each Province form One Consolidated Revenue Fund to be appropriated for the Public Service of the Province.

Notes

1. Now covered by the Governor General's Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. G-9.
2. Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan were placed in the same position as the original provinces by the Constitution Act, 1930, 20-21 Geo. V, c. 26 (U.K.).
   These matters were dealt with in respect of British Columbia by the British Columbia Terms of Union and also in part by the Constitution Act, 1930.
   Newfoundland was also placed in the same position by the Newfoundland Act, 12-13 Geo. VI, c. 22 (U.K.).
   With respect to Prince Edward Island, see the Schedule to the Prince Edward Island Terms of Union.
3. The obligations imposed by this section, sections 115 and 116, and similar obligations under the instruments creating or admitting other provinces, have been carried into legislation of the Parliament of Canada and are now to be found in the Provincial Subsidies Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. P-26.
4. Repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act, 1950, 14 Geo. VI, c. 6 (U.K.). As originally enacted the section read as follows:

   118. The following Sums shall be paid yearly by Canada to the several Provinces for the Support of their Governments and Legislatures:

   	Dollars
   Ontario	Eighty thousand.
   Quebec	Seventy thousand.
   Nova Scotia	Sixty thousand.
   New Brunswick	Fifty Thousand.
   	Two hundred and sixty thousand.

   and an annual Grant in aid of each Province shall be made, equal to Eighty Cents per Head of the Population as ascertained by the Census of One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and in the Case of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, by each subsequent Decennial Census until the Population of each of those two Provinces amounts to Four hundred thousand Souls, at which Rate such Grant shall thereafter remain. Such Grants shall be in full Settlement of all future Demands on Canada, and shall be paid half-yearly in advance to each Province; but the Government of Canada shall deduct from such Grants, as against any Province, all Sums chargeable as Interest on the Public Debt of that Province in excess of the several Amounts stipulated in this Act.

   The section was made obsolete by the Constitution Act, 1907, 7 Edw. VII, c. 11 (U.K.) which provided:

   1. (1) The following grants shall be made yearly by Canada to every province, which at the commencement of this Act is a province of the Dominion, for its local purposes and the support of its Government and Legislature:

   (a) A fixed grant

   where the population of the province is under one hundred and fifty thousand, of one hundred thousand dollars;

   where the population of the province is one hundred and fifty thousand, but does not exceed two hundred thousand, of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars;

   where the population of the province is two hundred thousand, but does not exceed four hundred thousand, of one hundred and eighty thousand dollars;

   where the population of the province is four hundred thousand, but does not exceed eight hundred thousand, of one hundred and ninety thousand dollars;

   where the population of the province is eight hundred thousand, but does not exceed one million five hundred thousand, of two hundred and twenty thousand dollars;

   where the population of the province exceeds one million five hundred thousand, of two hundred and forty thousand dollars; and

   (b) Subject to the special provisions of this Act as to the provinces of British Columbia and Prince Edward Island, a grant at the rate of eighty cents per head of the population of the province up to the number of two million five hundred thousand, and at the rate of sixty cents per head of so much of the population as exceeds that number.

   (2) An additional grant of one hundred thousand dollars shall be made yearly to the province of British Columbia for a period of ten years from the commencement of this Act.

   (3) The population of a province shall be ascertained from time to time in the case of the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta respectively by the last quinquennial census or statutory estimate of population made under the Acts establishing those provinces or any other Act of the Parliament of Canada making provision for the purpose, and in the case of any other province by the last decennial census for the time being.

   (4) The grants payable under this Act shall be paid half-yearly in advance to each province.

   (5) The grants payable under this Act shall be substituted for the grants or subsidies (in this Act referred to as existing grants) payable for the like purposes at the commencement of this Act to the several provinces of the Dominion under the provisions of section one hundred and eighteen of the Constitution Act, 1867, or of any Order in Council establishing a province, or of any Act of the Parliament of Canada containing directions for the payment of any such grant or subsidy, and those provisions shall cease to have effect.

   (6) The Government of Canada shall have the same power of deducting sums charged against a province on account of the interest on public debt in the case of the grant payable under this Act to the province as they have in the case of the existing grant.

   (7) Nothing in this Act shall affect the obligation of the Government of Canada to pay to any province any grant which is payable to that province, other than the existing grant for which the grant under this Act is substituted.

   (8) In the case of the provinces of British Columbia and Prince Edward Island, the amount paid on account of the grant payable per head of the population to the provinces under this Act shall not at any time be less than the amount of the corresponding grant payable at the commencement of this Act, and if it is found on any decennial census that the population of the province has decreased since the last decennial census, the amount paid on account of the grant shall not be decreased below the amount then payable, notwithstanding the decrease of the population.

   See the Provincial Subsidies Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. P-26 and the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements and Federal Post-Secondary Education and Health Contributions Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. F-8.
   

   See also Part III of the Constitution Act, 1982, which sets out commitments by Parliament and the provincial legislatures respecting equal opportunities, economic development and the provision of essential public services and a commitment by Parliament and the government of Canada to the principle of making equalization payments.

5. Spent.
6. Spent. Now covered by the Customs Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. 1 (2nd Supp.), the Customs Tariff, S.C. 1997, c. 36, the Excise Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. E-14 and the Excise Tax Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. E-15.
7. Spent.
8. These dues were repealed in 1873 by 36 Vict., c. 16 (N.B.). And see An Act respecting the Export Duties imposed on Lumber, etc. (1873) 36 Vict., c. 41 (Canada), and section 2 of the Provincial Subsidies Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. P-26.