Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This bill does two things, it changes the regime for prejudgment interest which is the rate of interest that applies from the time a cause of action to the day of judgment. That's the first thing it does. The second thing it does is it sets up a new regime for the determination for the termination of post-judgment interest which arises from the day of judgment to the time that a judgment is paid.

Presently, with respect to pre-judgment interest, the rate of interest is determined at one time from the time the cause of action arises. So, if that happens at a time when interest rates are very high, say 16 or 17 per cent, that will continue to be the rate of pre-judgment interest until the time of judgment, regardless of what happens to interest rates in the interim. So, if interest rates fall from 17 per cent down to five per cent or six per cent, the defendant will still be liable to pay the rate of 17 per cent for the entirety of that period which, as you can see, would result in some unfairness to the defendant.

Similarly, if the cause of action arises at a time of historical low interest rates and the interest rates subsequently climb, the plaintiff would be prejudiced because the rate of interest would be fixed at the one time.

What this bill does with respect to pre-judgment interest is allows for flexibility. The rate of interest will be determined at six-month periods, so the rate of interest over a number of years will adjust with the general ebb and flow of interest rates in Canada.

With post-judgment interest, it was previously fixed and is now fixed according to the Interest Act at five per cent. For the past number of years, this hasn't been a problem but, historically, interest rates are considerably higher than five per cent so a successful plaintiff is, in fact, prejudiced because the rate of interest that they are earning on the amount of the judgment doesn't reflect the amount of interest which is available in the market place. This bill will enable the Northwest Territories to assume jurisdiction for the determination of that interest rate and provides that the rate of post-judgment interest will be determined in the exact same manner as the prejudgment interest rate which I described to you. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.