Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Farm Credit Canada Act.

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

2 In this Act,

Board

Board means the Board of Directors of the Corporation; (conseil)

business related to farming

business related to farming means a business that primarily produces, transports, stores, distributes, supplies, processes or adds value to inputs to or outputs from farming operations; (entreprise liée à l’agriculture)

Chairperson

Chairperson means the Chairperson of the Board appointed under subsection 7(1); (Version anglaise seulement)

Corporation

Corporation means Farm Credit Canada continued by subsection 3(1); (Société)

director

director means a member of the Board; (Version anglaise seulement)

farming

farming includes livestock raising, bee-keeping, dairying, fruit growing, tillage of the soil and any other husbandry activity that the Corporation determines, under subsection 4(3), to be farming for the purposes of this definition; (agriculture)

President

President means the President of the Corporation appointed under subsection 7(1); (Version anglaise seulement)

subsidiary

subsidiary has the same meaning as in subsection 83(6) of the Financial Administration Act. (filiale)

Corporation Continued

Marginal note:Corporation continued

• 3 (1) The Farm Credit Corporation, established by section 3 of the Farm Credit Act, is continued as a body corporate under the name Farm Credit Canada.

• Marginal note:Head office

  (2) The head office of the Corporation shall be at Regina or at such other place in Canada as the Governor in Council may, by order, determine.

• Marginal note:Agent of Her Majesty

  (3) The Corporation is an agent of Her Majesty in right of Canada.

Purpose, Capacity and Powers

Marginal note:Purpose

• 4 (1) The purpose of the Corporation is to enhance rural Canada by providing specialized and personalized business and financial services and products to farming operations, including family farms, and to those businesses in rural Canada, including small and medium-sized businesses, that are businesses related to farming. The primary focus of the activities of the Corporation shall be on farming operations, including family farms.

• Marginal note:Powers

  (2) In carrying out its purpose, the Corporation has the power to

  • (a) make loans or guarantee loans made to persons or bodies for the following purposes, namely,

    • (i) to acquire, develop or improve farm lands and buildings, or personal property used or to be used in a farming operation,

    • (ii) to discharge liabilities or consolidate debts,

    • (iii) to pay costs associated with carrying on a farming operation or a business related to farming,

    • (iv) to assist in the development of a diversified enterprise on farm lands and buildings, and

    • (v) to acquire, develop or improve real or personal property used or to be used in a business related to farming;

  • (b) acquire and hold security interests of any kind and in any form for loans made, guarantees given or agreements entered into;

  • (c) acquire, by judicial proceedings or in any other manner, any interest in security acquired or held by it, and hold, exchange, lease, sell or otherwise dispose of any such interest;

  • (d) acquire and hold, exchange, lease, sell or otherwise dispose of any interest in real and personal property for use in the management of its business;

  • (e) enter into agreements with any department or agency of the government of Canada or of a province, or with any other person or body;

  • (f) provide specialized counselling services;

  • (f.1) provide business services and products that complement those available from the public and private sectors;

  • (f.2) procure the incorporation, dissolution or amalgamation of subsidiaries and acquire or dispose of any shares in them;

  • (f.3) provide lease financing for assets used or to be used in a farming operation or a business related to farming;

  • (f.4) acquire and dispose of investments in farming operations or in businesses related to farming, including shares of corporations that carry on those operations or businesses, within parameters that are satisfactory to the Minister of Finance;

  • (f.41) dispose of farmland acquired by it, provided that the disposal is at fair market value and is done as quickly as possible, and in any case no longer than five years, after the acquisition;

  • (f.5) provide its business and financial services and products, including loans, guarantees, lease financing and equity investments, directly, through arrangements with other persons or bodies or, in the case of financial services, as a member of a financing syndicate;

  • (g) determine and charge interest on loans made by it and fees for guarantees given and services provided by it;

  • (h) carry out such other duties or functions as may be assigned to it by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food in relation to the administration of any program benefiting rural Canada, or as are assigned to it pursuant to any other Act, to the extent that it is able to recover the costs of carrying out those duties or functions; and

  • (i) do such other things as it considers are incidental to the exercise of its powers.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (3) The Corporation may, in writing, determine which husbandry activities, other than those mentioned in the definition “farming” in section 2, constitute farming for the purposes of that definition.

• Marginal note:Capacity

  (4) In carrying out its powers, the Corporation has the capacity of a natural person.

Corporate Organization

Board of Directors

Marginal note:Composition

• 5 (1) The Corporation shall consist of a Board of Directors comprising a Chairperson, a President and not fewer than three nor more than ten other directors.

• Marginal note:Appointment

  (2) The directors, other than the Chairperson and the President, shall be appointed by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, with the approval of the Governor in Council, for such term not exceeding three years as ensures, as far as possible, the expiration in any one year of the terms of office of not more than one half of the directors.

• Marginal note:Acting directors

  (3) The Governor in Council may appoint one or more persons to act as a director in the event that any director is absent or unable to act.

• Marginal note:Reappointment

  (4) A director whose term of office has expired is eligible for reappointment to the Board in the same or another capacity.

• Marginal note:Incumbent director

  (5) Notwithstanding subsection (2), if a director is not appointed to take office on the expiration of the term of an incumbent director, the incumbent director continues in office until that director is reappointed or until a successor is appointed.

Marginal note:Management

• 6 (1) The Board shall direct and manage the affairs of the Corporation and may for those purposes exercise all the powers of the Corporation.

• Marginal note:Meetings

  (2) A meeting of the Board shall be held, at least once every four months, at such place in Canada as the Chairperson may designate for that meeting.

• Marginal note:Quorum

  (3) Five directors constitute a quorum of the Board.

Officers, Committees and Staff

Marginal note:Chairperson and President

• 7 (1) The Governor in Council shall appoint a Chairperson of the Board and a President of the Corporation for such terms as the Governor in Council considers appropriate.

• Marginal note:Chief executive officer

  (2) The President is the chief executive officer and is responsible for the supervision of the business of the Corporation.

• Marginal note:Duties of Chairperson

  (3) The Chairperson shall preside at all meetings of the Board and shall perform any other duties that are imposed, and exercise any powers that are conferred, on the Chairperson under the by-laws of the Corporation or by resolution of the Board.

• Marginal note:Acting Chairperson

  (4) If the Chairperson is absent or unable to act or if the office of Chairperson is vacant, the Board may authorize a director to act as Chairperson and that director has all of the duties and may exercise all of the powers of the Chairperson during the absence, inability or vacancy.

• Marginal note:Duties of President

  (5) The President shall perform any duties that are imposed, and may exercise any powers that are conferred, on the President under the by-laws of the Corporation or by resolution of the Board.

• Marginal note:Acting President

  (6) If the President is absent or unable to act or if the office of President is vacant, the Board may authorize an officer or employee of the Corporation to act as President and that officer or employee has all of the duties and may exercise all of the powers of the President during the absence, inability or vacancy. A person may not act as President for a period of more than 90 days without the approval of the Governor in Council.

Marginal note:Committees

• 8 (1) The Board shall establish an audit committee and may establish an executive committee or any other committees that the Board considers advisable, and determine their composition and duties and the tenure of their members.

• Marginal note:Executive committee

  (2) Where the Board establishes an executive committee pursuant to subsection (1), it may delegate any of its duties and powers to the executive committee.

Marginal note:Officers and staff

• 9 (1) The Corporation may employ or engage any officers, consultants, agents and employees who are required to carry out this Act, and may fix their remuneration and the terms and conditions of their employment or engagement.

• Marginal note:Delegation

  (2) The Board may delegate to any officer, employee or agent of the Corporation authority to act in all matters that are not by this Act, by by-law of the Corporation or by resolution of the Board specifically reserved to be done by the Board or by a committee of the Board.

Marginal note:Protection from liability

10 No director and no employee of the Corporation or person acting under the instructions of either of them or under the authority of this Act is personally liable for anything done or omitted to be done in good faith in the exercise or purported exercise of any powers conferred by this Act.

Financial Provisions

Marginal note:Capital payments

• 11 (1) At the request of the Corporation, the Minister of Finance may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, pay to the Corporation, out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, amounts not exceeding in the aggregate one billion, two hundred and fifty million dollars, or such greater aggregate amount as may be authorized from time to time under an appropriation Act.

• Marginal note:Capital of the Corporation

  (2) The capital of the Corporation consists of the aggregate of the amounts paid to the Corporation pursuant to subsection (1) and the amount of the retained earnings of the Corporation, which latter amount may be positive or negative.

• Marginal note:Reference to committee

  (3) Any provision of an appropriation Act authorizing an increase in the aggregate amount referred to in subsection (1) stands permanently referred to a committee of either or both Houses of Parliament established for the purpose of reviewing matters relating to agriculture.

Marginal note:Debt obligations

• 12 (1) The Corporation may borrow money otherwise than from Her Majesty and is hereby authorized to so borrow by any means, including by the issuance and sale of bonds, debentures, investment certificates, notes and any other evidence of indebtedness of the Corporation.

• Marginal note:Loans to the Corporation

  (2) At the request of the Corporation, the Minister of Finance may, out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, lend money to the Corporation on such terms and conditions as that Minister may fix.

• Marginal note:Aggregate liabilities

  (3) The aggregate of

  • (a) the direct liabilities of the Corporation, including debt obligations issued by the Corporation, and

  • (b) the contingent liabilities of the Corporation, in the form of guarantees given by it,

  shall not, at any time, exceed twelve times the capital of the Corporation.

• Marginal note:Power of Governor in Council

  (4) The Governor in Council may, by order, increase the factor of twelve mentioned in subsection (3) to any factor that does not exceed fifteen.

• Marginal note:Dividends

  (5) The Corporation may pay to the Receiver General such dividends out of the retained earnings of the Corporation as the Board may declare.

Marginal note:Investments

13 The Corporation may invest any money administered by it

• (a) in debentures, bonds, stocks, bankers’ acceptances or other securities of or guaranteed by the government of Canada or of a province or by any member of the Canadian Payments Association; or

• (b) in any other manner that may be approved by the Minister of Finance.

Marginal note:Financial management

• 14 (1) The Corporation may enter into any transaction for the financial management of the Corporation, including any instrument or agreement for the management of financial risks, such as interest rate or currency exchange agreements, options, futures contracts and any other similar agreements.

• Marginal note:Pledging assets

  (2) Notwithstanding section 100 of the Financial Administration Act, the Corporation may pledge any securities or cash held by it or give deposits as security for the performance of its obligations under any financial management instrument or agreement.

Marginal note:Fiscal year

15 Notwithstanding section 121 of the Financial Administration Act, the fiscal year of the Corporation is the period of twelve months beginning on April 1 and ending on the next March 31, unless the Governor in Council directs otherwise.

Marginal note:Debts due to Her Majesty

• 16 (1) All amounts due to the Corporation are debts due to Her Majesty and recoverable as such in the Federal Court or any other court of competent jurisdiction or in any other manner provided for by law.

• Marginal note:Appropriate Minister

  (2) For the purposes of subsection 155(1) of the Financial Administration Act, the “appropriate Minister responsible for the recovery or collection of the amount of the indebtedness” within the meaning of that subsection, in respect of debts due to the Corporation, is the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Repeals and Transitional

17 [Repeal]

Marginal note:Repeal of R.S., c. F-5

• 18 (1) The Farm Syndicates Credit Act is repealed.

• Marginal note:Transitional

  (2) Until such time as all advances made to the Corporation under the Farm Syndicates Credit Act are repaid by the Corporation or otherwise forgiven or written off, the special account referred to in subsection 8(1) of that Act remains open.