Mr. Speaker, I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Bill 7, Municipal Statutes Amending Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Bill 7, Municipal Statutes Amending Act, be read for the second time. Mr. Speaker, this Bill amends the Charter Communities Act, the Cities, Towns and Villages Act, the Hamlets Act, the Local Authorities Elections Act, the Property Assessment and Taxation Act and the Settlements Act to:

- enable municipalities to enter into community agreements with the government of the Northwest Territories to administer and deliver programs and services;

- provide municipal governments with broader by-law making powers to allow them to respond more effectively to local needs, such as the power to establish qualifications for taxi driver, the power to regulate devices capable of propelling projectiles and the power to appoint by-law officers to enforce specific by-laws;

- provide council members with greater protection against civil liability;

- enable hamlets and charter communities to borrow on a long term basis for land development where the general revenues of the municipal corporation are to bear no part of the cost of the developments;

- allow municipal corporations to collect arrears of charges levied for services that relate to real property in the same manner as arrears of taxes;

- provide an alternative process for the collection of tax arrears through tax sales;

- provide for a chief municipal electoral officer to oversee the conduct of municipal elections, to receive notices of improper conduct during an election and to make any necessary application to a judge in respect of an election;

- allow returning officers to establish mobile voting stations to permit persons who are physically incapacitated and unable to leave their place of residence to vote;

- clarify a number of procedural and interpretative difficulties in the various acts.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by honourable member for Nahendeh, that Bill 7, Municipal Statutes Amending Act, be read for the first time.