Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do. The purpose of Bill 23, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2002, is to amend various statutes of the Northwest Territories for which minor changes are proposed or in which errors or inconsistencies have been identified and brought to the attention of the Department of Justice by other departments and by Department of Justice staff.
Departments responsible for the administration of the various statutes being amended by Bill 23 have each reviewed and approved the changes to the statutes under their authority.
Most changes proposed in Bill 23 are minor in nature and many consist of technical corrections to either the English or French version of a statute.
Other changes have the effect of repealing certain provisions of the statutes that have expired, lapsed or otherwise ceased to exist.
The amendments are of such a nature that the preparation and legislative consideration of individual bills to correct each statute would be time consuming for the government and the Legislative Assembly.
In order for an amendment to be included in the bill, it had to meet the following criteria:
- (a) it must not be controversial;
- (b) it must not involve the spending of public funds;
- (c) it must not prejudicially affect the rights of persons; and
- (d) it must not create a new offence or subject a new class of persons to an existing offence.
Mr. Chairman, in our view the amendments proposed in Bill 23 meet those criteria. I will be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.