5(1)The council of any city or town having a population of 8,000 or upwards may, by a â…” vote, require any telephone company, when making substantial or extensive addition to, or substantial or extensive renewals of their system, to put and place any portion of their cables or wires used in making the additions or renewals in suitable conduits underground after the end of one year from the passing or adopting of the vote and notice of it to the company, and it is the duty of the telephone company to do so without delay on the expiry of the period of one year, unless this requirement is suspended, modified or overruled by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, on application made to him or her for that purpose.

5(2)The council of any city or town may fix the location of all conduits and the height of all posts, poles and supports for wires that may be used by a telephone company within the city or town, and provide for the painting of the posts, poles and supports, and may, on terms to be fixed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council in case of disagreement, require the telephone company, to permit the city or town to place wires on the posts, poles and supports, or through the conduits of the company, for the purposes of fire alarms, and police alarms, and for the purpose of enabling the city or town to connect with any telephone line of the city or town extending to any water reservoir or other public work of the city or town outside the city or town, without any charge for the use of them, and every pole erected shall be reasonably straight.

5(3)No telephone company shall put or place, or, except in respect of construction now lawfully existing, maintain any poles or fixtures for the carrying of wires or cables overhead, nor shall it build or place any conduit for the carrying of wires or cables underground in any street, highway, thoroughfare or public place within any city, town or municipality without obtaining the consent of and abiding by the terms to be agreed on with the council of that city or town and outside a city or town with the Chief Highway Engineer or, if in respect of a highway that is under the administration and control of the New Brunswick Highway Corporation, that Corporation, and every exercise of that right, except so far as provided by that consent and agreement, shall be subject to and controlled by all general by-laws and regulations of the city, town or the municipality of a county, whether passed before or after this Act.

5(4)Nothing in subsection (3) shall be construed to lessen in any way any obligation or liability of or restriction on a telephone company under its charter.

5(5)The provisions of subsection (3) respecting the making of an agreement do not apply to lines of telephone constructed before April 13, 1907.

5(6)Any such by-law or regulation or agreement does not apply to or is not in effect in respect of a telephone company until approved by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

7(1)In the exercise of any of the rights conferred on it by its charter, no telephone company shall obstruct the public in its right to travel over or use any public street, road, square, open plot of ground, highway, bridge, water, water course, lake, river or stream, nor shall it enter on, break up or open any public street, road, square, open plot of ground, highway or bridge, or any part of them, without first having and obtaining the consent,

7(2)If the consent described in subsection (1) is refused or withheld, or if conditions that the company considers unreasonable are attached to the consent, or in case of emergency if the consent cannot be obtained within a reasonable time, the company may apply to the Lieutenant-Governor in Council who may authorize the company to proceed with the proposed work, on such conditions and subject to such restrictions as are considered proper.

8(1)If a local government or corporation having authority to construct and operate a long distance telephone service, and to charge telephone tolls, is desirous of using any long distance telephone service or long distance line, owned, controlled or operated by a company, on which service or line the company is authorized to charge telephone tolls, in order to connect the telephone system, service or line, with the telephone system, service or line operated or to be operated by the local government or corporation for the purpose of obtaining direct communication when required between any telephone or telephone exchange on the one telephone system, service, or line, and any telephone or telephone exchange on the other telephone system, service or line, and cannot agree with the company with respect to obtaining the connection or communication or the use, the local government or corporation may apply to the Lieutenant-Governor in Council for relief, and the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may order the company to provide for the connection or communication or use on such terms as to compensation as the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may consider just and expedient, and may order and direct how, when, where, by whom, and on what terms and conditions the connections or communication or use shall be had, constructed, installed, operated and maintained.

8(2)On any such application, the Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall take into consideration, in addition to any other consideration affecting the case, the standards as to efficiency and otherwise of the apparatus and appliances of the telephone system or lines, and shall only grant the lease applied for in case and in so far as in view of the standards the connection or communication or use applied for can, in the opinion of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, be made or exercised satisfactorily and without undue or unreasonable injury to or interference with the telephone business of the company.

9(1)When it is made to appear to the Lieutenant-Governor in Council that any telephone company refuses or neglects to extend its line or lines so as to afford telephonic communication to any person desiring an extension to a reasonable distance, from the line or lines of the company, the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may, in his or her discretion and when it appears to him or her that the business guaranteed on the extension will yield a reasonable profit, make an order directing the extension, and prescribing the conditions on which the extension shall be made.

9(2)The company shall obey an order made under subsection (1).

13(1)Any person who violates or fails to comply with subsection 5(3) or section 6, 10, 11 or 12 commits an offence punishable under Part 2 of the Provincial Offences Procedure Act as a category C offence.

13(2)Any person who violates or fails to comply with subsection 7(1) commits an offence punishable under Part 2 of the Provincial Offences Procedure Act as a category E offence.

13(3)Any person who violates or fails to comply with subsection 9(2) commits an offence punishable under Part 2 of the Provincial Offences Procedure Act as a category F offence.