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Wildlife Law of Canada
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Transportation Act (BC)(01 July 2016)
Note Re Application of the Transportation Act ('TA')
This law bears on the wildlife issues of: The full current text of these statutes may be viewed at the British Columbia statute website.
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British Columbia's Transportation Act is the equivalent to what most provinces label their 'Highway Traffic Act' or 'HTA'.
It has minor application to wildlife in that one provision [TA 8(2)] authorizes the Minister of Transportation to, without consent, "enter, remain on and use land" in order to "protect any animal, bird, fish or plant species or habitat, or the environment, from the effects of a provincial public undertaking" (such as road construction), and to then [TA 8(1,2)]:- take possession of or use timber, stone, gravel, sand, clay and other materials on the land;
- place or store anything on the land;
- construct temporary roads or improvements;
- provide, remove or repair access from the land to a provincial public undertaking and, for that purpose, take possession of, use or move anything on the land.
A 'provincial public undertaking' in this context means "any improvement or other work of public utility that relates to transportation, including, without limitation [TA 1]:- ferries,
- terminals,
- transit systems,
- provincial public highways,
- hydraulic powers created by the construction of highways or works of public utility, and
- canals, ditches, drains, drainage, irrigation works and earthworks required for the planning, design, acquisition, holding, construction, use, operation, upgrading, alteration, expansion, extension, maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, protection, removal, discontinuance, closure and disposal of highways and public works."
What the Transportation lacks in contrast to other provincial HTAs are provisions which require drivers to either (or both) slow down when they see animals on the road, or to report animal strikes when they occur.
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