Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With me is Mr. Warren St. Germaine, comptroller general, Department of Finance. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Welcome, witness. General comments on the bill?

Detail? Bill 2, Forgiveness of Debts Act, 2009-2010, clause 1.

We will defer consideration of clause by clause and begin with the schedule of the bill? Does committee agree?

Page 3, schedule, debts forgiveness, total $535,564.96.

Agreed? Now can we turn back to page 1, Bill 2, Forgiveness of Debts Act, 2009-2010, clause 1.

---Clauses 1 and 2 inclusive approved

Bill as a whole?

Does committee agree that we’ve concluded consideration of Bill 2?

Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On Thursday, February 11, 2010, the Standing Committee on Government Operations tabled its report 5-16(4)...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m ahead of myself here, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much for recognizing me. Thank you.

I’d like to thank the Minister and the witnesses. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses out. Does the committee agree that Bill 2 is now ready for third reading?

---Bill 2 as a whole approved for third reading

Bill 2 is now ready for third reading. The next bill we agreed to deal with is

Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Child and Family Services Act. At this time I’d like to ask the Minister responsible to introduce the bill. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to introduce Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Child and Family Services Act. The proposed amendments to the act are technical housekeeping changes required to clarify provisions already established in the act. The amendments include:

•

ensuring the current confidentiality provisions apply to all persons who have access to child protection files, including casuals, clerical, and those who are not directly involved in child care matters, such as information technology services and custodial staff;

•

renaming the various ‘plan of care’

terminology, thereby clearly distinguishing each term from the other;

•

a correction in the child apprehension timeline, thereby restoring the timeline to the originally intended number of days; and

•

changing the process for obtaining a subpoena as well as an exemption under the ‘duty to report’ requirements for those informed of a child needing protection during the course of a judicial proceeding, thereby eliminating any possible expense, inconvenience and unnecessary work that is required when these incidents do occur.

All other recommendations before you, Mr. Chairman, are of a miscellaneous nature and are proposed in order to update the act.

That concludes my opening comments. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. This time I’d like to ask the chair of the standing committee on the review of the bill if he has any comments. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee on Social Programs conducted a public review of Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Child and Family Services Act, at a meeting held on December 11, 2009. Bill 4 makes amendments to the current Child and Family Services Act, it clarifies the terminology description plan of care agreements, care plans and case plans. Bill 4 also addresses the handling of confidentiality of the child protection information as well as other protocols.

Following a clause-by-clause review, a motion was carried to report to the Assembly that Bill 4 is now ready for consideration by Committee of the Whole. This concludes the committee’s general comments on Bill 4. Individual Members may have comments or question as we proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. At this time I’d like to ask the Minister if she will be bringing in any witnesses.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Does committee agree?