Legislation

Some Issues

Compiled by Eric B. Appleby (2007):

Supremacy of legislation

In Canada, the Parliament and the provincial legislatures have the sovereign power to legislate in their respective fields of jurisdiction. This principle is known as Parliamentary Sovereignty or Parliamentary Supremacy. Since 1982 these sovereign powers have been limited by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Legislation may expressly amend the common law. In the case of R. v. Mills (B.J.) (1999), 248 N.R. 101; 244 A.R. 201; 209 W.A.C. 201 (S.C.C.), the Supreme Court of Canada stated at para. 44, “The question before us is not whether Parliament can amend the common law, it clearly can”. See Sullivan and Driedger on the Construction of Statutes (4th Ed. 2002), p. 340: “Legislation is paramount. It follows from the principle of legislative sovereignty that validly enacted legislation is paramount over the common law.”

Enactment of legislation

A federal public statute starts as a bill and is introduced during a session of Parliament. After a bill is passed in the House of Commons and the Senate, it is sent to the Governor-General to receive Royal Assent, after which a bill becomes an act or statute. For each calendar year, all new acts are bound in an annual volume called the Statutes of Canada. The annual volume of the Statutes of Canada includes amendments to existing statutes. The procedure for the enactment of a provincial statute is similar to the enactment of a federal statute. Statutes may be either public or private. A public statute applies to the whole community or a considerable part of it. A private statute relates to particular persons or to particular places. The term “legislation” includes subordinate legislation. Subordinate legislation is enabled or made under powers conferred by a statute and includes regulations, orders, bylaws, etc.

Citation of a statute

When a statute is enacted it is given a chapter number. For example, Extradition Act, S.C. 1999, c. 18, refers to a statute, the Extradition Act, enacted in 1999 by Parliament and assigned the chapter number 18. Similarly, Bank Act, S.C. 1991, c. 46, refers to and is the citation for a statute, the Bank Act, enacted in 1991 by Parliament and assigned the chapter number 46. Usually every 10 or more years, both the federal and provincial governments revise and consolidate their public statutes. When a revision is complete the former versions are repealed. For example, Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46, refers to and is the citation for the Criminal Code of Canada that is found in chapter C-46, in the Revised Statutes of Canada 1985. Only public statutes are published in a revised edition of statutes. Provincial statutes are cited in a similar manner, for example, Legal Profession Act, S.B.C. 1998, c. 9, refers to a statute, the Legal Profession Act, enacted by the British Columbia legislature in 1998 and assigned the chapter number 9.

Statute Citators

A basic function of a statute citator is to alert the researcher to any statutes that have been judicially considered. Some statute citators contain a list of statutes for a selected province or for Canada and indicate whether the statute was amended. Such amendments can also be found by consulting the annual volume of statutes for a province or for Canada.

Legislation Online Resources

See Canadian Federal Legislation Online Resources here and Canadian Provincial Legislation Online Resources here

Canadian Legislation Online

The federal and most provincial governments now provide access to legislation on the Internet. However, the scope and coverage of materials available at these sites varies across jurisdictions.

One of the best starting points for accessing federal and provincial legislative materials available on the Internet is the Department of Justice, Canada web site. The federal resources such as Consolidated Statutes and Regulations of Canada (updated until December 31, 2000), Canada Gazette (Parts I, II, III), and constitutional documents are available in full-text.

The Parliamentary Internet, maintained jointly by the Senate, the House of Commons, and the Library of Parliament is a good site for locating debates, bills, minutes and proceedings of parliamentary committees, and Status of House Business.

You can also follow the links to federal and provincial legislation from the Bora Laskin Law Library’s web site and the University of Montreal’s web site.

Quicklaw, the online commercial service is another source for finding federal and provincial statutes and regulations. The federal and Ontario databases for statutes, regulations and bills are comprehensive and are updated daily. However, the legislation databases for some provinces may not be as current. You can check the scope and coverage of legislation databases available on Quicklaw. Some coverage of federal and provincial legislation is also available on Lexis and WestlaweCarswell.

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This entry was last updated: February 13, 2017