Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to speak as a Regular Member in this Assembly, not as the chair of Social Programs. I just want to start by thanking the Minister for bringing this legislation forward. I do realize that any document that says Garnishment Remedies Statutes Amendment Act might not be very exciting, but I have to tell you that this is a legislative amendment that has quite important, practical implications for a lot of residents out there.
I believe the Minister has mentioned the Creditors Relief Act has not had amendments in this jurisdiction for a very long time, and this amendment here seeks to address just a few provisions dealing with that, and I do appreciate that while we couldn't do a lot more, that the Minister has been able to bring this forward and get this through and have a debate today.
I think it should be made clear, I guess for those who are not aware, that this legislation is not to go after people who have debts and are not able to do things. This legislation applies after all processes have been exhausted and debtors have had their say in court and had an opportunity to defend in court. After everything has been exhausted and resolved, this legislation seeks to help creditors to be able to collect the judgment or the debt without having to incur inconveniences and costs unnecessarily.
I can tell you, Madam Chair, that I didn't practice law for a very long time, but when I did I had some of the debtors' files and at the time I thought it was quite unreasonable that people who had money owed to them had to not only go to court and spend a lot of time getting a judgment, but once a judgment is rendered, nobody helps the creditor to collect that judgment even if they want it. Every two weeks you have to file the garnishee again and pay the fee, and I tell you I don't think unless somebody's going after a huge amount of money, anything less than a few thousand, it was just not worth collecting. The only people I knew that were collecting was to kind of make the point of collecting it on principle. So I think this legislation goes a little lengthy in trying to address that.
I think it also should be mentioned that it's really the government that would benefit as one of the biggest organizations and creditors, probably, in being able to collect some money that people owe to them that they are entitled to have. So I guess I'm speaking just in general in support of this legislation and to say that I'm happy to see that those who are in this business of trying to get what is just to them will be able to do it without having to go through the process over and over again. So let me just end there.
I am going to have a comment or a question to the Minister later on on notice. Thank you, Madam Chair.