The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA; french: Office des transports du Canada, OTC) is the independent,

quasi-judicial A quasi-judicial body is non-judicial body which can interpret law. It is an entity such as an Arbitration, arbitration panel or tribunal, tribunal board, that can be a public administrative agency but also a contract- or private law en ...

tribunal A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a single ...

of the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

that makes decisions relating to federally-regulated modes of transportation (

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and marine). Its headquarters are in the Jules Léger Building (South) (''Édifice Jules Léger (Sud)'') in

Terrasses de la Chaudière Les Terrasses de la Chaudière is a complex of government office buildings in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. The complex was built in 1978 as part of Prime Minister of Canada, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's initiative to see more federal workers base ...

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's N ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. It is responsible for: * Dispute resolution: to resolve complaints about transportation services, fares, rates, and charges; * Accessibility: to ensure that the national transportation system is accessible, particularly to persons with disabilities; and *

Economic regulation Regulatory economics is the economics of regulation. It is the application of law by government or regulatory agencies for various purposes, including remedying market failure, protecting the environment and economic management. Regulation Re ...

: to provide approvals and licences and to make decisions on matters involving federally regulated air, rail, and marine transportation. The agency is divided into five branches: Chair's Office; Corporate Management Branch; Legal and Alternative Dispute Resolution Services Branch; Dispute Resolution Branch; Industry Regulation and Determinations Branch. The agency is headed by five full-time members, including the

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

, and the

vice chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

History

The history of the Canadian Transportation Agency originates in February 1904 with the establishment of the Board of Railway Commissioners, an independent body with regulatory authority over railway, and later with jurisdiction over

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, telephones, and express companies. The Board of Railway Commissioners was replaced by the Board of Transportation Commissioners through the ''Transport Act'' in 1938; this new agency held authority over

inland waterways Inland navigation, inland barge transport or inland waterway transport (IWT) is a transport system allowing ships and barges to use inland waterways (such as canals, rivers and lakes). These waterways have inland ports, marinas, quays, and wharfs. ...

and

airlines An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in whic ...

in addition to those jurisdictions inherited by the Board of Railway Commissioners. On 11 September 1944, amendments to the ''Transport Act'' provided for "the removal of commercial air services from the jurisdiction of the Board of Transport Commissioners." At the same time, the ''

Aeronautics Act The ''Aeronautics Act R.S. 1985, c. A-2'' (french: Loi sur l'aéronautique) is the legislation that governs civil aviation in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlant ...

'' created a new Air Transport Board to provide licensing and regulatory functions. In 1967, ''National Transportation Act'' became law and established the

Canadian Transport Commission The Canadian Transport Commission (CTC) was Canada's first fully converged, multi-modal regulator. The body was created by Canada's Parliament on September 19, 1967, to assume the responsibilities of two bodies: the Board of Transport Commissioner ...

(CTC)—absorbing most of the members and staff from the previous Board of Transport Commissioners, the Air Transport Board, and the Canadian Maritime Commission—with

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as president. The CTC was given mandate over all modes of transportation in Canada, "with the object of co-ordinating and harmonizing the operations of all carriers engaged in transport by railways, water, aircraft, extra-provincial motor vehicle transport and commodity pipelines." In 1988, the new ''National Transportation Act'' overhauled the CTC and replaced it with the National Transportation Agency. On 1996 May 29, the ''Canada Transportation Act'',''Canada Transportation Act''
/ref> also known as Bill C-14 (formerly C-101), received

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...

and established the Canadian Transportation Agency, which began operations on July 2. Consumer responsibilities were expanded in 2000, when the post of Air Travel Complaints Commissioner was created under its stewardship. The first Air Travel Complaints Commissioner was Bruce Hood, a former veteran

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

referee. In 2020, the agency received 8000 complaints between March and September over airline policies to issue travel vouchers rather than refunds for passengers cancelling their flight bookings during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The CTA posted on their website that airlines could issue travel vouchers instead of refunds, which caused Air Passenger Rights, an advocacy association, to file a lawsuit for CTA to remove this statement.

Legislation

The ''Canada Transportation Act'' is the Agency's enabling statute to implement the federal government's transportation policy. The Agency also shares responsibility for administering other Acts and their related regulations, including: * '' Accessible Canada Act, 2019'' *''

Canada Marine Act The ''Canada Marine Act'' (CMA; french: Loi maritime du Canada) (the Act) was passed in 1998 under the stewardship of David Collenette, who was Canada's Minister of Transport at that time. It was intended to modernize Canada's most important port ...

'' *''

Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 The ''Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012'' (CEAA 2012) (the ''Act'') and its regulations established the legislative basis for the federal practice of environmental assessment in most regions of Canada from 2012 to 2019. It was repealed w ...

'' * ''Civil Air Navigation Services Commercialization Act'' * ''Coasting Trade Act'' * ''Energy Supplies Emergency Act'' *''Pilotage Act'' *''Railway Relocation and Crossing Act'' * ''Railway Safety Act'' * ''Shipping Conferences Exemption Act, 1987''

Certificate of Fitness

The CTA is responsible for the issuance of a Certificate of Fitness for each federal railway. A board is required to evaluate details like insurance coverage, without which the railway cannot maintain its Certificate of Fitness.

References

External links

* Transport in Canada Federal departments and agencies of Canada Canadian transport law Organizations based in Gatineau {{Canada-gov-stub