THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT, 1907
(7 Edward VII, c. 11)
An Act to make further provision with respect to the sums to be paid
by Canada to the several provinces of the Dominion.
9th August, 1907
Whereas an address has been presented to His Majesty by the Senate and Commons of Canada in the terms set forth in the schedule of this Act:
Be it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords, Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:--
1. (1) The following grants shall be made yearly by Canada to every province, which at the commencement of this Act is a province of the Dominion, for its local purposes and the support of its Government and Legislature:
(a) A fixed grant --
Where the population of the province is under one hundred and fifty thousand, of one hundred thousand dollars;
Where the population of the province is one hundred and fifty thousand, but does not exceed two hundred thousand, of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars;
Where the population of the province is two hundred thousand, but does not exceed four hundred thousand, of one hundred and eighty thousand dollars;
Where the population of the province is four hundred thousand, but does not exceed eight hundred thousand, of one hundred and ninety thousand dollars;
Where the population of the province is eight hundred thousand, but does not exceed one million five hundred thousand, of two hundred and twenty thousand dollars;
Where the population of the province exceeds one million five hundred thousand, of two hundred and forty thousand dollars; and
(b) Subject to the special provisions of this Act as to the provinces of British Columbia and Prince Edward Island, a grant at the rate of eight cents per head of the population of the province up to the number of two million five hundred thousand, and at the rate of sixty cents per head of so much of the population as exceeds that number.
(2) An additional grant of one hundred thousand dollars shall be made yearly to the province of British Columbia for a period of tenyears from the commencement of this Act.
(3) The population of a province shall be ascertained from time to time in the case of provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta respectively by the last quinquennial census of statutory estimate of population made under the Acts establishing those provinces of any other Act of the Parliament of Canada, making provision for the purpose, and in the case of any other province by the last decennialcensus for the time being.
(4) The grants payable under this Act shall be paid half-yearly in advance to each province.
(5) The grants payable under this Act shall be substituted for the grants and subsidies (in this Act referred to as existing grants) payable for the like purposes at the commencement of this Act to the several provinces of the Dominion under the provisions of section one hundred and eighteen of the British North America Act, 1867, or of any Order in Council establishing a province, or of any Act of the Parliament of Canada containing directions for the payment of any such grant or subsidy and those provisions shall cease to have effect.
(6) The Government of Canada shall have the same power of deducting sums charged against a province on account of the interest of public debt in the case of the grant payable under this Act to the province as they have in the case of the existing grant.
(7) Nothing in this Act shall affect the obligation of the Government of Canada to pay to any province any grant which is payable to that province other than the existing grant for which the grant under this Act is substituted.
(8) In the case of the provinces of British Columbia and Prince Edward Island, the amount paid on account of the grant payable per head of the population to the provinces under this act shall not at any time be less than the amount of corresponding grant payable at the commencement of this Act; and if it is found on any decennial census that the population of the province has decreased since the last decennial census, the amount paid on account of the grant shall not be decreased below the amount then payable, notwithstanding the decrease of the population.
2. This Act may be cited as the British North America Act, 1907, and shall take effect as from the first of July nineteen hundred and seven.