Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. The purpose of Bill 3, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2010, is to amend various statutes of the Northwest Territories for
which minor changes are proposed or errors or inconsistencies have been identified.
Each amendment included in the bill 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 rights;
d) it must not create a new offence or subject a
new class of persons to an existing offence.
Departments responsible for the various statutes being amended have reviewed and approved the changes.
Most amendments proposed in Bill 3 are minor in nature and many consist of technical corrections to a statute. Other changes have the effect of repealing certain enactments or statutory provisions that have expired or have otherwise ceased to have effect. 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.
This bill is structured differently than the miscellaneous statute law amendments bills Members have reviewed in previous years, in that it is divided into two schedules.
Schedule A resembles a “conventional” miscellaneous statute law amendment bill, making a variety of minor amendments to the statutes. Schedule B is a new device, listing transitional provisions that are obsolete or expired, and providing for their repeal. This schedule will likely only make an appearance in a bill this once, as it results from a comprehensive review of all acts that have come into force since the December 31, 1988, cut-off date of the last statute revision.
I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Social Programs for its review of this bill. I will be pleased to answer the committee’s questions on Bill 3. Mahsi.