name: Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Company Act
unofficial_text: # Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Company Act
  
  SC 1934, c 63
  
  An Act respecting the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Company
  
  Assented to 1934-3-28
  
  ### 1923, c. 74 Preamble
   WHEREAS by chapter seventy-four of the statutes of Canada, 1923, and by chapter three hundred and seventy-nine of the laws of the state of New York, 1922, two companies were incorporated under the name of Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Company, with authority to construct, maintain and operate a bridge across the Niagara River between the city of Buffalo, in the state of New York, and the village (now the town) of Fort Erie, in the province of Ontario, and by agreement dated thirteenth day of June, 1925, the said two companies were amalgamated and consolidated so as to form one and a new single company under the same name in accordance with, and subject to, the provisions of the said Acts of incorporation; and whereas for the purpose of the reorganization and refinancing of the said bridge undertaking upon a basis which will permit of a considerable reduction of fixed charges and consequent reduction of tolls now charged, by an Act of the Legislature of the state of New York, being chapter eight hundred and twenty-four of the laws of the said state for 1933, (hereinafter called “Act of Incorporation”, and a copy of which is, for the information only of Parliament, attached as a Schedule hereto), a Board, known as the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, was created a body corporate and politic, constituting a public benefit corporation, with power to acquire, hold and manage the property and assets of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Company; and whereas by the Act of Incorporation it is provided that the said Board shall consist of nine members, six of whom are required to be citizens of the United States and residents of the state of New York, to be appointed and removed by the Governor of the said state, and three of whom are required to be residents of the Dominion of Canada, to be appointed and removed as may be determined by the Government of the Dominion of Canada; and whereas the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Company has by its petition requested that authority be granted to it to convey all its property and assets within the Dominion of Canada to the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority: Therefore His Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: 
  
  ### Company may acquire and manage property and assets
  
  1 (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, created by the Act of Incorporation (hereinafter called “the Bridge Authority”), is hereby authorized and empowered to acquire, hold and manage the property and assets within Canada of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Company. 
  
  ### Transfer
  
  (2) Subject to the provisions of section eleven of this Act the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Company is hereby authorized and empowered to transfer and convey to the Bridge Authority all of its property and assets within Canada. 
  
  ### Members not employees of His Majesty
  
  2 Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to have effect to give the members, officers or employees of the Bridge Authority the status of officers or employees of His Majesty. 
  
  ### Appointment of Canadian members
  
  3 (1) The Governor in Council may appoint, to hold office during pleasure, five persons, being Canadian citizens resident in Canada, to be the members of the Bridge Authority that under the provisions of the Act of Incorporation are to be appointed by Canada. 
  
  ### Deputies
  
  (2) A member of the Bridge Authority appointed under subsection (1) may, with the approval of the Minister of Transport, appoint a deputy in writing to attend any meeting of the Bridge Authority and to act and vote in the member’s place. 
  
  ### Attorney to be appointed
  
  4 (1) The Bridge Authority shall, within sixty days from the passing of this Act, by resolution appoint a person resident in the county of Welland, in the province of Ontario, its attorney to receive service of process in all suits and proceedings instituted in Canada against the Bridge Authority. 
  
  ### Certified copy
  
  (2) The Bridge Authority shall cause a certified copy of such resolution to be filed forthwith after the adoption thereof, in the office of the Secretary of State of Canada. 
  
  ### Powers of Bridge Authority
  
  5 The Bridge Authority is hereby authorized and empowered, subject to the provisions of this Act, to exercise its powers and, 
  
  ### R.S., c. 170
  
  (a) To maintain and operate the property acquired or held by it, and subject to the provisions of the Railway Act, charge tolls in respect thereof;  
  (b) To sue and be sued; 
  (c) subject to the terms, conditions and restrictions set forth in its Act of Incorporation, to issue, sell or exchange from time to time its negotiable bonds in the aggregate principal amount not exceeding at any one time one hundred million dollars or such greater amount as the Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Transport and with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance, may fix; 
  (d) To secure such negotiable bonds by mortgage, charge or pledge of property and assets acquired and held by it, including the tolls and revenues arising therefrom; and 
  (e) To apply the proceeds of any such bonds in the manner and for the purposes provided by its Act of Incorporation. 
  
  ### Bonds
  
  6 The bonds and other obligations of the Bridge Authority shall not be a debt of the Dominion of Canada, nor shall the Dominion of Canada be liable thereon. 
  
  ### Default
  
  7 In the event of default being made under any bonds issued by the Bridge Authority, the Trustee for the bondholders shall, with respect to the property and assets within Canada constituting the security, or a part thereof, for the said bonds, have in addition to such remedies as may otherwise be available to him, all remedies available to a mortgagee under the laws of the province of Ontario. 
  
  ### Notice to the Attorney General
  
  8 (1) The remedies of the bondholders and the trustee provided in the Act of Incorporation of the Bridge Authority or under this Act, are subject to the limitation that, before taking any proceeding to enforce such remedies, or any of them, the Trustee shall first give notice in writing to the Attorney General of Canada; and if when such notice is given to the said Attorney General, Parliament shall be in session, the Trustee shall not declare the principal of the bonds due before Parliament prorogues, provided, however, that Parliament has been in session for at least four weeks after notification shall have been given to the Attorney General as aforesaid. 
  
  ### When principal of bonds to be declared due
  
  (2) If Parliament be not then in session, or has not been in session for at least four weeks after notification shall have been given to the Attorney General as aforesaid, the Trustee shall not declare the principal of the bonds due until the next regular session of Parliament is ended by prorogation. 
  
  ### Default remedied
  
  (3) If at any session of Parliament referred to in subsections one and two of this section, Parliament shall take any action as a result of which past due principal and interest, with interest on past due interest, together with fees, counsel fees and expenses of the trustee and of the receiver, if any, as fixed by the Court of competent jurisdiction shall be paid within sixty days after prorogation, default in the payment thereof shall thereby be remedied. 
  
  ### Minister of Transport
  
  9 Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the Minister of Transport, or a person designated by that Minister, is the authority or agency that under any provision of the Act of Incorporation is to be designated by Canada. 
  
  ### Termination of rights, powers, etc.
  
  10 On the later of the following days, namely, 
  (a) the 1st day of July, 2020, or 
  (b) the day that any bonds issued by the Bridge Authority prior to the 1st day of July, 2020, are paid in full or are otherwise discharged, the rights, powers and jurisdiction of the Bridge Authority under this Act are terminated, and the property acquired or held by it within Canada becomes the property of Her Majesty in right of Canada, to be held, administered or disposed of as the Governor in Council may direct. 
  
  ### Bridge Authority to be subject to assessment and taxation
  
  11 Nothing herein contained shall in any way affect, prejudice, limit, or alter any right or interest in respect of provincial or municipal assessment and taxation, or deprive the province of Ontario or any municipality thereof of the right to assess and tax the real property within Canada of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Company, or of the Bridge Authority and the said real property acquired, held or managed by the Bridge Authority, and the Bridge Authority itself, shall be subject to assessment and taxation. 
  
  ### Jurisdiction and control of Niagara Parks Commission
  
  12 Notwithstanding anything in this Act contained, the jurisdiction and control of the Niagara Parks Commission in respect to the matters placed under its jurisdiction and control by virtue of chapter eighty-one of the Revised Statutes of Ontario, 1927, shall continue the same as if this Act had not been passed. 
  
  ### Money paid to Canada
  
  13 Any money payable to the Government of Canada under the Act of Incorporation shall be paid to the Minister of Transport and shall form part of the Consolidated Revenue Fund. 
  
  ### Reference to “Act of Incorporation”
  
  14 A reference in this Act to the Act of Incorporation shall be construed as a reference to the Act of Incorporation as amended from time to time. 
  
  