Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On behalf of the Standing Committee on Legislation, I am pleased to be able to report on Bill 14, Miscellaneous Statutes Amending Act, 1994. The Standing Committee on Legislation has completed its review of Bill 14, the Miscellaneous Statutes Amending Act. The committee held public hearings on this bill in Yellowknife on Tuesday, December 13, 1994 and no presentations from the public were heard, primarily due to the nature of this bill.
Bill 14 proposes to make minor amendments to a variety of statutes all at once. It corrects a number of inconsistencies and errors that have been discovered in the statutes of the Northwest Territories. The bill also proposes to repeal a number of provisions of statutes that are redundant, have expired, or otherwise ceased to have effect.
In reviewing the Miscellaneous Statutes Amending Act, the standing committee was satisfied that the criteria set out by the Department of Justice for amendments to be included in this bill had been met. However, the committee would like to make a comment on an aspect of this bill, in particular, and all bills in general. Often amendments are proposed in the French text in a piece of legislation. In these cases, even though the changes are often small, it would greatly assist committee Members if the nature of these amendments could be explained, either in the bill itself or an accompanying document.
Mr. Chairman, this completes the Standing Committee on Legislation's report on Bill 14. On December 13, 1994, the committee passed a motion that Bill 14 be reported as ready for consideration in committee of the whole. Thank you.