Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Kitikmeot, that Bill 19, Municipal Statutes Amending Act, No. 2, be read for the third time. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, this bill amends the Charter Communities Act, the Cities, Towns and Villages Act and the Hamlets Act to:
- allow municipalities to borrow from an expanded range of lenders prescribed by regulations;
- remove the restriction that municipalities borrow on a temporary basis from banks only;
- allow municipalities to borrow on a long term basis by means other than by debentures only; and
- remove the requirement that municipalities provide information in the long term borrowing by-law that is usually unknown at the time that the long term borrowing by-law is made.
In respect of a municipal taxing authority:
- remove the requirement for the municipality to forward a long term debt security to the Minister before it is issued or entered into and for the Minister to countersign it;
- clarify that municipality may be required to redeem a long term debt security only where a municipality is borrowing from the Government of the Northwest Territories; and
- clarify other procedural or interpretative difficulties in respect of borrowing in the various Acts.