Transition — administrative integration of Canada Student Loans Program and BC Student Assistance Program

142   (1) In this section:

"borrower", except in subsection (5), means a person who

(a) is or was required to make his or her first regular monthly payment on a British Columbia student loan on or before June 30, 2012, and

(b) has not signed a Master Student Financial Assistance Agreement for Canada and British Columbia;

"British Columbia student loan" means an amount loaned by the government to a person to enable the person to attend a post-secondary institution;

"Canada student loan" means a loan provided under a "full-time direct loan agreement" as that term is defined under the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act;

"debt management program" means

(a) the B.C. loan forgiveness program,

(b) the Pacific Leaders B.C. loan forgiveness program, or

(c) a prescribed debt management program;

"federal minister" means the minister of the government of Canada who is responsible for the administration of Canada student loans;

"former repayment terms" means the terms and conditions on which a borrower is required to repay his or her British Columbia student loan, which terms and conditions are either

(a) set out in an agreement in writing, other than a student loan agreement, between the borrower and the government that the borrower signed and returned to the government, or

(b) determined or imposed under the terms of the borrower's student loan agreement or agreement described in paragraph (a);

"Master Student Financial Assistance Agreement for Canada and British Columbia" means the student loan agreement developed under the Agreement for Administrative Integration of Canada Student Loans Program and BC Student Assistance Program between Her Majesty in right of Canada and Her Majesty in right of British Columbia and dated January 24, 2011;

"new repayment terms" means the terms and conditions on which a borrower is required to repay his or her British Columbia student loan under subsection (2) or (3), as applicable;

"student loan agreement" means the agreement in writing, however titled, that sets out the terms and conditions on which a person's British Columbia student loan is provided, including changes to its provisions in respect of which notice has been sent to the person, but does not include an agreement described in paragraph (a) of the definition of "former repayment terms".

(2) Despite a borrower's former repayment terms or the terms of the borrower's student loan agreement, the following are repayment terms on which the British Columbia student loans of that borrower must be paid:

(a) effective July 1, 2012,

(i) prime rate is the variable reference rate of interest as calculated by the federal minister for the purposes of Canada student loans, and

(ii) the scheduled monthly payment under the borrower's former repayment terms, or, if the borrower has been making more than one scheduled payment each month under those terms, the sum of those scheduled payments, must be paid on the last day of each month;

(b) effective March 1, 2012, no fees or charges are payable by the borrower in respect of payments that

(i) are not honoured by the borrower's financial institution because of insufficient funds, and

(ii) are due on or after that date.

(3) Despite a borrower's former repayment terms or the terms of the borrower's student loan agreement, for a borrower who meets all the following criteria:

(a) the borrower has a Canada student loan;

(b) the borrower's interest rate under his or her former repayment terms and the interest rate under the repayment terms that apply to his or her Canada student loan are both a fixed rate of interest or both a variable rate of interest;

(c) the borrower is not enrolled in a debt management program;

(d) the borrower is not an undischarged bankrupt;

(e) any prescribed criteria,

effective July 1, 2012, the following are repayment terms on which the British Columbia student loan of that borrower must be paid:

(f) payments may be credited as follows:

(i) first to outstanding fees and charges described in subsection (2) (b) (i) that accrued in respect of payments due before March 1, 2012;

(ii) next to outstanding accrued interest;

(iii) next to principal balance, including any capitalized interest;

(g) subject to paragraph (f), the amount of the borrower's scheduled monthly payment that is to be credited to the borrower's British Columbia student loan for a particular month is the amount that results from the following calculation:

(h) a prepayment made in respect of a British Columbia student loan is to be prorated between the borrower's British Columbia student loan and Canada student loan by applying the calculation set out in paragraph (g), but substituting the amount of the prepayment for "(BCSL payment + CSL payment)" in the calculation;

(i) amortization period is the number of months, to a maximum of 234 months, required to reduce the borrower's BCSL balance, as that term is described in paragraph (g), to zero if

(i) the borrower makes payments equal to the sum of BCSL payment and CSL payment, as those terms are described in paragraph (g), at the interest rate applicable under the borrower's new repayment terms, and

(ii) those payments are applied as set out in paragraph (g) to the sum of BCSL balance and CSL balance, as those terms are described in paragraph (g).

(4) Subsections (2) (a) (ii) and (3) do not apply in respect of a borrower

(a) who at any time before July 1, 2012 has failed to make 5 or more consecutive scheduled payments on his or her British Columbia student loan, and

(b) in respect of whom the government has not subsequently approved an application for

(i) different repayment terms for that loan under which terms the loan is treated as being in good standing on the date the application is approved,

(ii) interest-free status for that loan, or

(iii) a new British Columbia student loan.

(5) Unless it is a Master Student Financial Assistance Agreement for Canada and British Columbia, the student loan agreement of each borrower, within the meaning of his or her student loan agreement, is conclusively deemed to have included the following term when the student loan agreement was entered into:

The Province may amend this agreement from time to time for the purpose of aligning the terms of this agreement with the terms of the Master Student Financial Assistance Agreement for Canada and British Columbia and will send written notice of any amendment to this agreement to the borrower at the borrower's address as shown in this agreement or another address the borrower has provided. On receipt of such a notice, the borrower may repay all amounts owed within 14 days, but if all amounts are not paid within that period, the borrower is conclusively deemed to have accepted the amendment in respect of which the notice was sent.

(6) Nothing in subsection (2) or (3)

(a) prevents the government and the borrower from entering into an agreement on or after July 1, 2012 for repayment of the borrower's British Columbia student loan on terms different from the new repayment terms, or

(b) restricts the authority of the government to, in accordance with the terms of a student loan agreement, amend the student loan agreement or change the provisions of that student loan agreement.

(7) No action lies, and a legal proceeding may not be brought or continued, against the government or any person acting on behalf of the government for compensation, damages or any other remedy arising as a direct or indirect consequence of

(a) the changes made under subsection (2) or (3) to the terms on which a British Columbia student loan must be repaid, or

(b) any amendments to a student loan agreement under the term included in the student loan agreement under subsection (5).

(8) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations

(a) on or before July 1, 2012, prescribing debt management programs for the purpose of the definition of "debt management program" in subsection (1),

(b) on or before July 1, 2012, prescribing criteria for the purposes of subsection (3) (e), and

(c) before a date specified in

(i) the definition of "borrower" in subsection (1),

(ii) subsection (2), (3), (4) or (6), or

(iii) this subsection,

prescribing a later date that applies instead for the purposes of the provision in which it appears.

Transition — pre-existing trust companies and pre-existing insurance companies

143   (1) A pre-existing trust company and a pre-existing insurance company must do the following within 2 years after the coming into force of this section:

(a) file with the registrar a transition application that complies with section 437 (2) of the Business Corporations Act;

(b) alter the company's articles if and to the extent necessary to ensure that those articles comply with section 438 (3) of the Business Corporations Act.

(2) Divisions 1 to 3 of Part 14 of the Business Corporations Act, other than section 436 (1) of that Act, apply to pre-existing trust companies and pre-existing insurance companies.

Transition — conclusiveness of certificate of incorporation

144   (1) A certificate of incorporation issued to or for a pre-existing trust company that has not filed a transition application under the Business Corporations Act is conclusive evidence that the trust company was duly incorporated under the Financial Institutions Act, the Trust Company Act, R.S.B.C. 1979, c. 412, or another Act and a certificate of incorporation issued to or for a pre-existing insurance company that has not filed a transition application under the Business Corporations Act is conclusive evidence that the insurance company was duly incorporated under the Financial Institutions Act.

(2) Section 18 of the Business Corporations Act does not apply to a pre-existing trust company or a pre-existing insurance company until the company files a transition application under the Business Corporations Act.

Transition — first annual reference date

145   For the purposes of section 182 (1) (b) of the Business Corporations Act, a pre-existing insurance company or a pre-existing trust company that has neither held an annual general meeting under that Act nor passed a resolution under section 182 (2) of that Act has, as its first annual reference date for the purposes of the Business Corporations Act,

(a) if the company was recognized under section 3 (3) of the Business Corporations Act not more than 18 months before the coming into force of this section, the earlier of

(i) the date of the company's first annual general meeting, if any, that was held under the Company Act as it applied for the purposes of the Financial Institutions Act, and

(ii) the date that is 18 months after the recognition of the company, or

(b) if the company was recognized under section 3 (3) of the Business Corporations Act more than 18 months before the coming into force of this section, the later of

(i) the date that is 13 months after the date of the company's most recent annual general meeting, if any, that was held under the Company Act as it applied for the purposes of the Financial Institutions Act, and

(ii) the date that is 6 months before the day on which this section comes into force.

Transition — regulations

146   (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations for meeting or removing any difficulty arising out of the coming into force of any or all of the amendments by this Act to the Business Corporations Act, the Financial Institutions Act or the Finance Statutes Amendment Act, 2010, and the regulations may be made to apply generally or to a particular case or class of cases.

(2) A regulation made under subsection (1) may be made retroactive to a date not earlier than the date this section comes into force.

(3) This section and any regulations made under subsections (1) and (2) are repealed on December 31, 2014.

Commencement

149   The provisions of this Act referred to in column 1 of the following table come into force as set out in column 2 of the table: