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Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, enacts as follows:

1In this Act

“Corporation” means the New Brunswick Municipal Finance Corporation established under section 3;(Corporation)

“financial assistance” includes a loan and the purchase of securities;(aide financière)

“Minister” means the Minister of Finance and Treasury Board and includes persons designated by the Minister under section 2 to act on his behalf;(Ministre)

“municipal enterprise” means(entreprise municipale)

(a) any body corporate, and

(b) any board of police commissioners established pursuant to section 17.1 of the Police Act

the borrowings of which are guaranteed by a municipality;

“municipality” means city, town or village and includes (municipalité)

(a) a water or wastewater commission constituted or continued under section 15.2 of the Clean Environment Act,

(b) a regional service commission established under the Regional Service Delivery Act;

(c) a rural community, and

(d) a regional municipality.

“securities” includes bonds, debentures, notes, promissory notes, interest bearing and non-interest bearing treasury bills, certificates of indebtedness, and other similar instruments.(valeurs)

1983, c.59, s.1; 1985, c.63, s.1; 1994, c.91, s.9; 1999, c.24, s.1; 2005, c.7, s.53; 2012, c.32, s.10; 2012, c.44, s.14; 2017, c.20, s.119; 2019, c.29, s.104

Administration

2The Minister shall administer this Act and may designate persons to act on his behalf.

New Brunswick Municipal Finance Corporation

3There is hereby established a body corporate to be known as the New Brunswick Municipal Finance Corporation.

Directors

4(1)The Corporation shall consist of not fewer than five directors appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council for such terms as the Lieutenant-Governor in Council determines.

4(2)The Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall designate one of the directors to be President of the Corporation and one to be Vice-President.

4(3)The directors shall be paid such remuneration and expenses as may be determined by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

1983, c.59, s.2

Internal management

5(1)The Corporation may exercise its powers by resolution of the directors.

5(2)The President is the chief executive officer of the Corporation.

5(3)The Vice-President shall act in the place of the President where the President is unable for any reason to act.

Location of Corporation

6(1)The offices of the Corporation shall be located at the City of Fredericton or at such other place as the Lieutenant-Governor in Council designates.

6(2)The Corporation may hold meetings anywhere within the Province.

Meetings of Corporation

6.1(1)A director of the Corporation may participate in a meeting of the Corporation or of a committee of the Corporation by means of telephone or other communication facilities that permit all persons participating in the meeting to hear each other, and a director participating in a meeting by those means shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be present at that meeting.

6.1(2)A meeting of the Corporation or of a committee of the Corporation may be held by polling each director separately, or a quorum of the directors if all of the directors are not available, by means of telephone or other communication facilities, and a director participating in a meeting by such poll shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be present at that meeting.

1999, c.24, s.2

Object of Corporation

7The object of the Corporation is to provide financing for municipalities and municipal enterprises through a central borrowing authority.

Powers of Corporation

8The Corporation has power

(a) to raise money by the issue and sale of securities and to incur temporary loans from any chartered bank, credit union, corporation or government;

(b) to purchase, redeem or pay off any securities, including the purchase or rollover of its own securities;

(c) to enter into agreements that seem conducive to its object including agreements with any municipal, local or other government or authority;

(d) to purchase, take on lease or in exchange, hire, or otherwise acquire and hold real or personal property and any rights or privileges that the Corporation considers necessary or convenient for the purpose of its business;

(e) to manage, improve, sell, exchange, lease or otherwise dispose of or deal with the property and rights of the Corporation;

(f) to draw, make, accept, endorse, execute and issue promissory notes, bills of exchange, and any other negotiable or transferable instrument;

(g) to lend money to municipalities and municipal enterprises, to accept and receive therefrom securities and to sell, pledge, mortgage or otherwise dispose of or deal with such securities;

(h) to do or to authorize some person to do all acts as are necessary to comply with any law in force in Canada or in any other country or in any political subdivision thereof relating to the issue, registration, qualification under securities laws or sale of any securities;

(i) to approve one or more registrars or agents within the Province or elsewhere and to grant such persons the powers, rights and authorities required or useful in connection with the issue, authentication, registration, transfer, exchange, substitution, sale or payment of or in respect of securities;

(j) to do all or any of the above things as principal, agent, contractor or otherwise;

(k) to do all other things as are incidental or conducive to the attainment of the object and the exercise of the powers of the Corporation.

1983, c.59, s.3

Securities

9Securities issued by the Corporation shall be subject to such terms and conditions and shall be made payable in such currency as the Corporation considers advisable.

Guarantees

10(1)Upon the request of the Corporation and the recommendation of the Minister, the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may guarantee the payment of the principal, premium, if any, and interest on any borrowings by, or securities issued by the Corporation.

10(2)The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may authorize the Minister of Finance and Treasury Board to approve the terms and conditions of a guarantee under subsection (1).

10(3)The form and manner of any such guarantee shall be such as the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may approve, and the guarantee shall be signed by the Minister or by such other officer or officers of the Department of Finance and Treasury Board as may be designated by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council and such signature or signatures may be engraved, lithographed, printed or otherwise mechanically reproduced.

10(4)The signature on the guarantee of the Minister or the person designated by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council is conclusive proof that this section has been complied with.

10(5)When any amount becomes legally due and payable by virtue of a call of a guarantee issued under this section, such amount is a liability of the Province and is payable out of the Consolidated Fund.

2019, c.29, s.104

Provision of financial assistance to Corporation

11The Minister, with the approval of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, may provide financial assistance to the Corporation.

Securities issued by municipality or municipal enterprise

12The Corporation shall not accept any securities issued by a municipality or municipal enterprise unless all of the requirements of the Municipal Capital Borrowing Act and any other governing enactment have been complied with by the issuing municipality or municipal enterprise.

Idem

13(1)Subject to subsections (2) and (3), notwithstanding the provisions of the Municipal Capital Borrowing Act or any other general or special Act of the Legislature, no municipality or municipal enterprise shall borrow or raise money by the issue and sale of securities except from the Corporation, the Government of Canada or the Province.

13(2)A municipality or municipal enterprise may issue and sell securities having a term to maturity of less than one year to a chartered bank, trust company or a credit union as evidence of a temporary loan.

13(3)A municipality may issue and sell its securities to a reserve fund established by the municipality under section 101 or 117 of the Local Governance Act, a sinking fund established by the municipality under section 7 of the Municipal Debentures Act or a trust fund of which it is a trustee.

1983, c.59, s.4; 1999, c.24, s.3; 2005, c.7, s.53; 2017, c.20, s.119

Default of payment by municipality or municipal enterprise

14(1)Where a municipality or municipal enterprise defaults in any payment required to be made to the Corporation and such default continues for a period of fifteen days, the Corporation shall forthwith inform the Minister of Local Government.

14(2)Upon the request of the Corporation, the Minister of Local Government shall pay to the Corporation such amounts as are in default and shall recover such amounts from the defaulting municipality or from the municipality that has guaranteed the payment due to the Corporation from the defaulting municipal enterprise.

14(3)Where a regional service commission established under the Regional Service Delivery Act defaults in any payment required to be made to the Corporation and the Corporation has requested payment under subsection (2), the Minister of Local Government shall pay such amounts as are in default and shall, notwithstanding subsection (2),

(a) recover from the participating municipalities the portions of the payment for which the municipalities are responsible in accordance with the Regional Service Delivery Act, and

(b) raise, in accordance with section 172 of the Local Governance Act, the money required for the portions of the payment for which the participating unincorporated areas are responsible in accordance with the Regional Service Delivery Act.

14(4)The Minister of Local Government may recover an amount from a municipality under subsection (2) or paragraph (3)(a) by retaining by way of deduction or set-off that amount out of any grant or other sum of money due or payable by the Minister of Local Government to that municipality.

14(5)Nothing in subsection (4) affects any right of the Province to deduction or set-off under any other Act or regulation or at common law.

1986, c.8, s.87; 1989, c.55, s.40; 1992, c.2, s.44; 1994, c.91, s.9; 1998, c.41, s.88; 1999, c.24, s.4; 2000, c.26, s.226; 2006, c.16, s.123; 2012, c.39, s.102; 2012, c.44, s.14; 2017, c.20, s.119; 2020, c.25, s.78; 2023, c.40, s.26

Administration expenses

15(1)The administration expenses of the Corporation shall be paid by the Corporation.

15(2)Notwithstanding subsection (1), the Minister may, in such amounts and on such terms as are mutually agreeable, assist the Corporation in the payment of its administration expenses.

1999, c.24, s.5

Audits

16(1)The Auditor-General appointed under the Auditor General Act shall be the auditor of the Corporation.

16(2)The auditor has a right of access at all times to the books and accounts of the Corporation, and is entitled to require from the directors, officers and employees of the Corporation such information and explanations as may be necessary for the performance of the duties of the auditor.

16(3)The auditor shall make all examinations that are in his opinion necessary to enable him to report accurately on the financial statements of the Corporation and on the state of the Corporation’s financial affairs.

16(4)The Corporation shall deposit with the Minister and with the Minister of Local Government, a copy of the auditor’s report and the financial statements of the Corporation.

1986, c.8, s.87; 1989, c.55, s.40; 1992, c.2, s.44; 1998, c.41, s.88; 2000, c.26, s.226; 2006, c.16, s.123; 2012, c.39, s.102; 2020, c.25, s.78; 2023, c.40, s.26

Purchase of securities

17The Province, a municipality or a municipal enterprise may purchase the securities of the Corporation.

By-laws

18The Corporation may make by-laws relating to such matters or things as appear to it to be requisite or proper for the conduct or regulation of the business or affairs of the Corporation, and without restricting the generality of the foregoing, including

(a) the appointment, functions, duties, remuneration and removal of all officers, employees, agents or servants of the Corporation;

(b) the disposition of all money received in respect of the business of the Corporation, the institutions in which the money is to be deposited, the manner in which such accounts are to be kept and managed, and the manner in which withdrawals are to be made from such accounts;

(c) the borrowing by way of temporary loan from chartered banks by way of overdraft or line of credit or by pledging securities of the Corporation, or in any other manner and the execution of bills of exchange, promissory notes or other instruments used in connection with temporary borrowings;

(d) the execution of securities of the Corporation, and the provision of facsimile signatures and seal;

(e) the sale and pledging of securities of the Corporation;

(f) the creation, management and application of reserve funds and sinking funds;

(g) the registration, transfer, exchange and management of securities of the Corporation; and

(h) the management of the property of the Corporation.

Exclusion of a municipality or municipal enterprise from application of Act

19The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may exclude any municipality or municipal enterprise from the application of this Act.

Securities Act not to apply

20The Securities Act does not apply to securities or transactions of the Corporation.

2004, c.S-5.5, s.224

Commencement

21This Act or any provision thereof comes into force on a day to be fixed by proclamation.

N.B. This Act was proclaimed and came into force February 1, 1983.

N.B. This Act is consolidated to December 13, 2023.

N-6.2 - New Brunswick Municipal Finance Corporation Act

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