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Permits for Provincial Government Property

P

Plumb-bob

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Aug 31, 2022
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294
Location
BC
Do your jurisdictions require building permits for provincial government owned properties and buildings?

I have been told conflicting things and do not know what regulations to look at.

Thanks!
 
What's your provincial building regulation? Somewhere in there should be language as to whether the act "binds the Crown." If it does, then the province has to follow its own default regulation. If it doesn't, no requirement.
 
Our BC Building Act does not exempt the Prov. Gov., but it seems we have an Interpretation Act that does. I have some links to supreme court decisions where it was decided that agents of the crown do not need to follow municipal zoning or building bylaws.

This is getting above my pay grade.
 
Plumb-bob said:
Our BC Building Act does not exempt the Prov. Gov., but it seems we have an Interpretation Act that does. I have some links to supreme court decisions where it was decided that agents of the crown do not need to follow municipal zoning or building bylaws.

This is getting above my pay grade.
Click to expand...
I'd fire that up the ladder of the BC building officials association.
 
It is based on the province's interpretation act (or their version of it). Some provinces are "opt in" provinces, meaning that if they want an act to apply to the crown as well, they need to explicitly state it does. If the act is silent, then it does not apply. Other provinces are "opt out" provinces, meaning if they want the act to apply, they can leave it silent, but if they want it not to, they have to state that the act does not bind the crown.

You are correct that the BC buildings Act does not specify if it binds the crown or not.

I was able to find a couple of BC acts that explicitly state that it does not bind the crown, so I would hazard a guess that BC is an opt out province, meaning that since the Buildings Act does not exempt application from the crown, The crown must comply.
 
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