DEFINITIONS

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

An authority to deal with a matter by regulation includes the authority to define any terms that are used in the regulation.

Words defined in the enabling statute should not be defined in the regulations because section 16 of the Interpretation Act states that "expressions used in the regulations have the same respective meanings as in the enactment conferring the power"; however, in rare cases when the circumstances require it, a statutory definition may be repeated in the regulation. A word that is defined in the enabling statute may be given a narrower meaning in the regulations if that meaning does not alter the scope of the enabling statute. A regulation cannot broaden a definition found in the enabling statute.

Definitions in regulations must not have the effect of modifying any requirements, rights, benefits or powers set out in the enabling statute, and, in particular, they must not modify the scope of an enabling authority. Therefore, a word used but not defined in the enabling statute should not, as a rule, be defined in the regulations. This would risk broadening the scope of the enabling statute and thus exceed the authority it confers.

A regulation cannot define a word for the purposes of the enabling statute unless the statute expressly provides for it.

Example:

  19. The Governor in Council may, by regulation,

• (a) define the expression "last port of landing" for the purposes of subsection 16(2); and … .

Generally, the same term should not have different meanings within a regulatory scheme.

A term used in a regulation may be defined by reference to a definition in another regulation or statute. The disadvantage of defining a term in this manner is that the user will have to consult the other enactment. However, the advantage is that the definition does not have to be amended each time the term in the enactment referred to is amended, if consistency between the two is desired.^[1]

Example:

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the expression "public service agencies" has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Public Agents Firearms Regulations.

ADDITIONAL SOURCES

Legistics

The article "definitions" in Part 1 provides information on types of definitions, principles governing their use, their formal aspects and drafting and amending them, as well as alternatives to formal definition sections.

Legislation Deskbook

Definitions are discussed in Chapter 3 at the following locations:

• under the heading "3.3 Legislative Drafting Conventions", where sections 5, 21 and 32 of the Drafting Conventions of the Uniform Law Conference of Canada are reproduced;

• under the heading "3.6 Ancillary Provisions",

  • where the subsection "Definitions" discusses the function of definitions and rules for drafting them;
  • in the subsection "Commencement", where the section on "Definitions" discusses rules applicable to amending legislation;

• under the heading "3.8 Amendments", in the subsection "Definitions", where various amending formulae for the amendment of definitions are suggested.

Part 4 – Table of contents

Footnote

• ^[1] See subsection 40(2) of the Interpretation Act.