Third

Session, 46th General Assembly

Elizabeth II, 2010

BILL 5

AN ACT TO PROVIDE

LIABILITY PROTECTION ON PORTIONS OF PEDESTRIAN TRAILS

Received and Read the First Time ...................................................................................................

Second Reading .................................................................................................................................

Committee ............................................................................................................................................

Third Reading .....................................................................................................................................

Royal Assent ......................................................................................................................................

HONOURABLE TERRY FRENCH

Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation

Ordered

to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This Bill would provide liability

protection to the Crown and to owners or occupiers of land whose property forms

a part of a trail that is designated under the Act.

The minister would be given authority

to make regulations to establish criteria and set out the subject areas for

which the minister may set standards that shall be complied with before a trail

can be designated under this Act.

A BILL

AN ACT TO PROVIDE LIABILITY PROTECTION ON PORTIONS

OF PEDESTRIAN TRAILS

Analysis

Short title

Definitions

Designation of a trail

User liability

Regulations

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and

House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

Short title

1. This

Act may be cited as the Pedestrian Trails

Liability Protection Act .

Definitions

2. In

this Act

(a) "minister" means the minister

appointed under the Executive Council Act

to administer this Act;

(b) "owner or occupier" includes the holder

of an easement or the owner of a right of way or licence, including a Crown

easement or Crown licence issued under the Lands

Act , over land which may form a part of the trail, but does not include an

association, group or other body who built or who maintain the trail; and

(c) "trail" means a trail designated by

regulations made under this Act.

Designation of a

trail

3. A

trail that meets the prescribed criteria may be designated by regulation to be

a trail to which this Act applies.

User liability

(1) A

person using a trail voluntarily assumes all risk, as against the Crown, that

may be encountered on the trail when using the trail, whether the person is on the

trail or not.

(2) An owner or occupier of land that forms a part of

a trail, including the Crown, together with his or her agents, employees and

servants, does not owe a duty of care to a person who is using the trail or

that person's property whether that person is on the trail or not .

(3) Notwithstanding subsection ( 2), the owner or occupier of land that

forms a part of a trail owes a duty of care to persons using the trail not to

create a danger with the deliberate intent of doing harm or damage to the

person or the person's property.

Regulations

5. The

minister may make regulations

(

a) designating a trail;

(

b) establishing criteria and prescribing those subject

areas with respect to which the minister may set standards that must be

complied with for a trail to be designated under this Act;

(

c) describing a trail using the licence to occupy

number assigned under the Lands Act by

the minister appointed under the Executive

Council Act to administer that Act, or by some other method;

(

d) defining a word that

is not already defined in this Act for the purpose of this Act; and

(

e) generally , to give

effect to the purpose of this Act.

Earl G. Tucker, Queen's Printer