Current status: Closed
Open on March, 18, 2021 and will be closed on April, 14, 2021.
Transport Canada wants to hear your thoughts on adding new contraventions to the Canada Marine Act and its regulations.
Our proposal
Transport Canada wants to be able to deal with more minor offences by issuing tickets. For this, we are seeking to designate as contraventions in the Contraventions Regulations new provisions of the Canada Marine Act and the following regulations made under that Act:
- Port Authorities Operations Regulations
- Public Ports and Public Port Facilities Regulations
- Seaway Property Regulations
- Natural and Man-made Harbour Navigation and Use Regulations
These regulations deal with the safety, order and operation of specific ports, harbours and properties managed by:
- Canada Port Authorities
- Transport Canada
- St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, and
- the Department of National Defence
Allowing enforcement officers to respond to minor regulatory instances of non-compliance by issuing a contraventions ticket increases the ability to enforce the Canada Marine Act and its regulations. A ticket may be paid voluntarily or challenged by an offender before the provincial court of jurisdiction where the offence was committed. Compared to criminal proceedings, offenders who plead guilty do not have to appear in court. Contravention tickets reduce the number of cases that must proceed through the courts, saving time and money for the courts as well. Contraventions tickets constitute a more expedient tool for enforcement officers, allowing them to focus on other duties.
Proposed fine amounts
The proposed fine amounts for these new contraventions range between $125 and $500. However, certain fine amounts for traffic-related contraventions are set as follows: “an amount equal to the amount of the fine for contravening a provincial or municipal law relating to the operation of a vehicle, applicable in the place where the contravention was committed, in the case where the contravention is enforced by means of a ticketing procedure, up to a maximum of $2,000.” The proposed amounts are based on existing fines for similar contraventions in Schedule I to the Contraventions Regulations.
Please, join in: how to participate
We want to hear from stakeholders and the Canadian public. Your opinions and feedback are important!
- To learn more about our proposal please read our background document
- Examples of proposed contraventions
To participate, please email us your comments at: tc.cmacprogram-programmeclmc.tc@tc.gc.ca.
As set out in sections 19 and 20 of the Access to Information Act, please identify any parts of your comments that should not be made public because they include personal or third-party information. Please also explain why your comments should be kept private and for how long.
Unless you tell us a section of your feedback is private, it may appear in any regulatory proposal that Transport Canada publishes in the Canada Gazette.
Who is the focus of this consultation?
We’re interested in hearing from:
- Stakeholders from Canada’s ports system and the St Lawrence Seaway
- Law enforcement
- The public
Key questions for discussion
We’re looking for feedback on the following questions:
- Which parts of the Canada Marine Act and its regulations should we issue tickets for?
- Do you expect any challenges for making these changes? Why?
- In your opinion, would these changes negatively affect some people or groups of people?
- What do you think about the range of fines that we’re proposing?
You can also talk about other parts of this proposal in your feedback.
Related Information
Contact us
Transport Canada
Tower C, Place de Ville
330 Sparks St.
Ottawa ON K1A 0N5