Marginal note:Construction

3. For greater certainty, the provisions of this Act shall not be interpreted as providing a basis for any claim by or on behalf of any province in respect of any interest in or legislative jurisdiction over any offshore area or any living or non-living resources of any offshore area.

Marginal note:Precedence over other Acts of Parliament

4. In case of any inconsistency or conflict between

• (a) this Act or any regulations made thereunder, and

• (b) any other Act of Parliament that applies to the offshore area or any regulations made under that Act, except the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement Act,

this Act and the regulations made thereunder take precedence.

Marginal note:Regulations

• 5. (1) Subject to section 7, the Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing lines enclosing areas adjacent to the Province for the purpose of paragraph (a) of the definition “offshore area” in section 2.

• Marginal note:Issue of charts

  (2) The Federal Minister may cause charts to be issued setting out the offshore area or any portion thereof as may be set out consistent with the nature and scale of the chart.

• Marginal note:Evidence

  (3) In any legal or other proceedings, a chart purporting to be issued by or under the authority of the Federal Minister is conclusive proof of the limits of the offshore area or portion thereof set out in the chart without proof of the signature or official character of the person purporting to have issued the chart.

Marginal note:Definitions

• 6. (1) In this section,

  “agreement”

  « accord »

  “agreement” means an agreement between the Government of Canada and the government of a province respecting resource management and revenue sharing in relation to activities respecting the exploration for or the production of petroleum carried out on any frontier lands;

  “frontier lands”

  « terres domaniales »

  “frontier lands” means lands that belong to Her Majesty in right of Canada, or in respect of which Her Majesty in right of Canada has the right to dispose of or exploit the natural resources and that are situated in

  • (a) Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut or Sable Island, or

  • (b) those submarine areas, not within a province, adjacent to the coast of Canada and extending throughout the natural prolongation of the land territory of Canada to the outer edge of the continental margin or to a distance of two hundred nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of Canada is measured, whichever is the greater.

• Marginal note:Disputes between neighbouring provinces

  (2) Where a dispute between the Province and any other province that is a party to an agreement arises in relation to a line or portion thereof prescribed or to be prescribed for the purpose of the definition “offshore area” in section 2 and the Government of Canada is unable, by means of negotiation, to bring about a resolution of the dispute within a reasonable time, the dispute shall, at such time as the Federal Minister deems appropriate, be referred to an impartial person, tribunal or body and settled by means of the procedure determined in accordance with subsection (3).

• Marginal note:Procedures determined by Federal Minister

  (3) For the purposes of this section, the person, tribunal or body to which a dispute is to be referred, the constitution and membership of any tribunal or body and the procedures for the settlement of a dispute shall be determined by the Federal Minister after consultation with the provinces concerned in the dispute.

• Marginal note:Principles of international law to apply

  (4) Where the procedure for the settlement of a dispute pursuant to this section involves arbitration, the arbitrator shall apply the principles of international law governing maritime boundary delimitation, with such modifications as the circumstances require.

• Marginal note:Approval of Provincial Minister not required before regulation made

  (5) Notwithstanding section 7, where a dispute is settled pursuant to this section and a regulation under subsection 5(1) prescribing the line in relation to which the dispute arose is made in accordance with the settlement, the regulation is not subject to the procedure set out in section 7 with respect to the portion of the line to which the dispute related.