Bill C-48 · 38th Parliament · Paul Martin
An Act to authorize the Minister of Finance to make certain payments
Government bill. Became law.
- IntroducedMay 6, 2005
- Debated in principleMay 19, 2005
- Studied by a committeeDone
- Passed its first chamberJune 23, 2005
- Passed the second chamberJuly 19, 2005
- Became lawJuly 20, 2005
Leading supporters
Ranked by the part each played: who is responsible for the bill, who carried it, and who spoke for it most.
- Paul MartinPrime Minister
Who carries this bill
Arrows run from the person responsible to those who answer to them on this bill. The critic leads the Senate’s scrutiny and answers to no one on it.
Where members stand
Votes and debate for this bill have not been read yet.
How it changed on the way
57% of the text as introduced was changed or removed by the time it became law (688 words introduced, 666 passed).
minor changeintent kept
The bill received only procedural updates between introduction and royal assent. Substantive provisions on payments and purposes remained unchanged.
How precisely it is written
mixedChallenging the law: HardDisputing a charge: Hard
The bill sets exact dollar caps and fiscal-year references for surplus payments. It then hands wide power to the Governor in Council to decide purposes, terms, and methods of spending.
Open to argument
“on any terms and conditions that the Governor in Council considers appro”
Subjective standard lets officials decide conditions without fixed criteria.“specify the particular purposes for which payments referred to in subsection (1) may be made”
No defined list; the executive chooses what counts as environment, training or housing.“develop and implement programs and projects”
Undefined terms allow almost any activity to be created by regulation.
Clear-cut
“shall not exceed in the aggregate $4.5 billion”
Hard numerical ceiling removes argument over total amount.“an amount not exceeding $900 million”
Specific dollar limit for each category fixes the outer bound.
Discretion. Almost all spending details, program design, provincial agreements and corporate creation are left to the Governor in Council and ministers to decide case by case.
Challenging the law itself. Spending authorization engages no clear Charter right and the vagueness doctrine rarely voids appropriation statutes.
Disputing a charge under it. The Act creates no offences or duties for private persons, so disputes arise only between governments over accounting.
Read by a language model from the royal assent text; every quoted phrase appears in the bill. A reading of the drafting, not legal advice.
Did it work?
no evaluation found
Who lobbied on it
No lobbying registration naming this bill is loaded.
Stages and dates from LEGISinfo.