Bill C-230, An Act to amend the Financial Administration Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts (debt forgiveness registry), proposes to amend the Financial Administration Act and make related changes to six other Acts. The stated goal is to create a public, searchable record of certain large debts and claims against corporations, trust companies and partnerships that the federal government has remitted, forgiven, written off or waived. The supplied material does not say whether the bill has passed or is in force; these are proposed changes, not confirmed current law.
The President of the Treasury Board would have to establish and maintain an online registry for covered amounts of $2 million or more.
The registry would list the entity’s name, the amount and type of write-off or waiver, the fiscal year, and the law or instrument under which the debt arose and was waived. The President could add other information.
The registry could exclude information the President considers inappropriate to make public to protect confidential, personal or sensitive information. It would have to identify which of those reasons led to an exclusion.
The registry would have to be set up within 18 months after the new section comes into force. It would cover qualifying amounts waived after that date, with updates due within 90 days after the relevant Public Accounts are tabled.
The bill would change tax and other confidentiality laws to allow information to be provided for the purposes of sections 23 to 25.1 of the Financial Administration Act, including the proposed registry. Debts owed to Crown corporations, and claims by Crown corporations, would not count as debts or claims owed to His Majesty under the registry rule.
Federal government: The President of the Treasury Board would have a legal duty to create and maintain the registry and meet the timelines. The bill does not assign this duty to a new independent body.
Corporations, trust companies and partnerships: A qualifying amount involving one of these entities could be publicly listed if it was remitted, forgiven, written off or waived. The bill does not require these entities to apply or change their debt.
Members of the public: You could search the registry for the listed information, subject to exclusions. It would not cover debts owed to, or claims made by, Crown corporations under this provision.
People or entities with amounts below $2 million: The proposed registry rule would not cover those amounts. The bill does not itself forgive or waive any debt.
No publicly available information gives an estimated cost.
The President of the Treasury Board would have to establish and maintain the registry, but the bill provides no staffing, technology or funding estimate.
The bill sets no fee, fine or payment for businesses or registry users.
The supplied text does not give a commencement date or say whether the bill has passed or is in force.
The Financial Administration Act was not supplied, so the existing law and how the new section fits with current rules could not be verified.
The bill does not define “sensitive information” or set detailed standards for deciding what to exclude.
It does not set out review or appeal steps for an exclusion, or explain who checks the accuracy of registry entries.
The bill does not say how the President would obtain the information or what happens if a required entry is missing or late.
A coordinating provision makes the amendment to the Digital Services Tax Act depend on whether a specified provision of Bill C-15 comes into force. The supplied material does not establish how that condition will be resolved.
A searchable record could make large federal debt write-offs and waivers easier for the public to find.
Requiring information about the amount, year and legal basis could help readers understand what was waived and under what authority.
The $2-million threshold focuses the registry on large amounts, while the exclusion power allows some protection for confidential, personal or sensitive information.
The President’s discretion to exclude information and add other information is broad; the bill does not set detailed standards or an appeal process.
The public record may be incomplete or difficult to compare if information is excluded or if entries are not checked under a process set out in the bill.
The registry would not include Crown corporation debts or claims, so it would not cover every large federal public-sector write-off or waiver.