Vol. 146, No. 12 — June 6, 2012
Registration
SOR/2012-102 May 15, 2012
AERONAUTICS ACT
Regulations Amending the Airport Vehicle Parking Charges Regulations
The Minister of Transport, pursuant to section 2 of the Ministerial Regulations Authorization Order (see footnote a) hereby makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Airport Vehicle Parking Charges Regulations.
Ottawa, May 14, 2012
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 Section 1 of the Regulations and the heading before it are repealed.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
|
Item |
Column 1 |
Column 2 |
Column 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1. |
Metered parking |
(1) Penticton |
0.22 per period of 25 minutes or less |
|
(2) Wabush |
0.22 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 |
2.63 maximum per 24-hour period |
||
|
(5) Wabush |
|
||
|
3. |
Parking in an area designated by the Minister as a remote public parking lot |
Penticton |
17.86 per month |
REGULATORY IMPACT
ANALYSIS STATEMENT
(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)
Issue
The Airport Vehicle Parking Charges Regulations (the 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 public parking lots 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 concerns with 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 amending 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. Therefore, the Regulations no longer apply to them, and these airports are being removed from the Schedule at this time. Several other miscellaneous changes are also included.
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 addresses the issue of inclusion of taxes in the amounts set out in the Airport Vehicle Parking Charges Regulations, removes one Transport Canada-owned and -operated airport from the Schedule to the Regulations, as well as removes references to airports no longer operated by Transport Canada. Several exceptions to the requirement to pay parking charges have been deleted, as they involve airports no longer operated by Transport Canada. A number of additional changes of a corrective nature have been included.
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 applicable federal and provincial taxes in the determination and collection of charges, and by subtracting tax amounts from the total amounts in the Schedule that included the parking charges and the applicable taxes.
Consequently, any references to the term “amounts” are being removed from the Regulations.
2. Exceptions to the requirement to pay the parking charges
Several exceptions to the requirement to pay the parking charges are being removed, as they refer to airports no longer operated by Transport Canada.
3. Miscellaneous changes
A number of miscellaneous changes of a corrective nature are included in the amendment to the Regulations and associated Schedule.
4. Amendments to the Schedule
Columns II and III of the Schedule to the Regulations are amended by removing references to airports that are no longer owned and operated by Transport Canada. Furthermore, the St. Anthony Airport is being removed from the Schedule as the Department does not intend to charge for parking at that location. Charges in Column III of the Schedule are also amended by subtracting the applicable taxes.
Rationale
As a result of removing the taxes from the amounts charged for parking fees, the following changes are being made, based on tax rates in effect on January 1, 2011:
- For airports located in British Columbia (Penticton, Port Hardy and Sandspit), harmonized sales tax (HST) in the amount of 12% is subtracted from the charge amounts;
- For the airport located in Newfoundland (Wabush), HST in the amount of 13% is subtracted from the charge amounts; and
- For the airport located in Quebec (Sept-Îles), goods and services tax (GST) in the amount of 5% and provincial sales tax (PST) in the amount of 8.5% are subtracted from the charge amounts.
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 (SEA) process was followed for these Regulations and a preliminary scan was completed. The preliminary scan concluded that the amendment is not likely to have environmental effects.
Consultation
Consultations regarding the amendment were held with Transport Canada regional offices, including managers of airports owned and operated by Transport Canada.
Following the prepublication of the amendment in Part Ⅰ of the Canada Gazette, the only comment came from one of the affected airports and concerned the method used to subtract tax amounts from the total amounts in the Schedule. Consequently, the charges have been slightly revised for publication in Part Ⅱ of the Canada Gazette.
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.
The parking devices, meters and signage will be updated as required.
These amendments are administrative in nature and do 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
Footnote a
SOR/86-631
Footnote 1
SOR/87-543