Thank you, Minister. I will now turn to the Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Development, which considered the bill for any opening comments. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Standing Committee on Social Development concluded its review of Bill 25, An Act to Amend the Residential Tenancies Act, on August 22, 2017, with a public hearing held here at the Legislative Assembly building. Although the committee received no public submissions on the bill, the committee is aware that the operations of the Northwest Territories rental office has recently been of interest to our colleagues in the House and to our constituents. We look forward to improvements in the services Northerners receive at the rental office. Individual Members may have additional comments or questions as we proceed with consideration of this bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister, would you like to bring them into the Chamber?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to have that opportunity, thank you.

Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, would you please introduce your witnesses.

Mr. Chair, Emily Ingarfield, the manager of policy, to my left, and Laura Jeffrey, legislative counsel, to my right.

Thank you, Minister. I will open the floor to general comments on the bill. Any general comments from Members? Seeing none, we can proceed to a clause-by-clause reading of the bill. We will defer bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses. Please turn to page 2 of the bill. As I read out the clauses, please reply with "agreed" if committee agrees. Clause 1.

---Clauses 1 through 6 inclusive approved

Thank you

Committee. To the bill as a whole. Does committee agree that Bill 25, An Act to Amend the Residential Tenancies Act is now ready for third reading?

Thank you, committee. Bill 25 is now ready for third reading. Does committee agree this concludes our consideration of Bill 25, An Act to Amend the Residential Tenancies Act?

Thank you, committee. Thank you again to the Minister and thank you again to the witnesses. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber.

Next on our agenda, we have agreed to consider Bill 28, Interpretation Act. Once again, I will turn to the Minister responsible for the bill to introduce it. Minister Sebert.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am here to present Bill 28, Interpretation Act.

I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Social Development for their review of this bill and for the constructive feedback they provided. A motion was made in Committee, and I am pleased that the bill was improved as a result.

The current Interpretation Act finds its origins in the Revised Ordinances of the Northwest Territories of 1888, and although minor changes have been made to the act over time, it has not been significantly modernized from its original iteration. Bill 28 will repeal and replace the current act with a more accurate and accessible version. The new act will include most, but not all, of the components of the Uniform Law Conference of Canada’s model Uniform Interpretation Act, which was adopted at their 2015 annual meeting.

More specifically, the bill will make changes that:

• Update existing standard provisions that regulate aspects of the operation of all enactments;

• Update existing definitions of commonly used words and terms in legislation;

• Revise existing provisions that identify which elements in a legislative document are to be considered as part of the statutes for purposes of interpretation;

• Add a new provision that incorporates and clarifies the Carltona doctrine;

• Remove outdated provisions;

• Improve the structure of the act by reorganizing provisions; and

• Improve the readability of the act.

These and other changes provided for in the bill will ensure that the Interpretation Act meets its purpose of promoting consistency and conciseness in the form and language of legislation in the Northwest Territories.

I would be happy to answer any questions that Members have regarding Bill 28.

Thank you, Minister. I will turn to the chair of the Standing Committee on Social Development, which considered the bill for any opening comments. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair the Standing Committee on Social Development concluded its review of Bill 28, Interpretation Act, on August 22, 2017, with a public hearing held here at the Legislative Assembly building. The committee received no public submissions on the bill and carried one motion to amend the bill. Overall, the committee is pleased to support the Department of Justice's effort to update and enhance out-dated legislation.

Individual Members may have additional comments or questions as we proceed with consideration of this bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister, would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?

Yes, I would, Mr. Chair.

Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, please introduce your witnesses to the House.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my left, Emily Ingarfield, manager of policy, and to my right, Mike Reddy, director of legislation. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Committee, please turn to page 5 of the bill. I'm sorry, I should open the floor to general comments. Do we have any general comments? I see Mr. Testart has comments. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know this bill and many like it are very technical in nature and contain a lot of legal matters that are significant for how governments operate and how the legal community operates.

I think most average readers can understand what the Minister laid out for the changes, what this bill does, in his opening comments, except for one, which is the Carltona doctrine. I raised this in the review of the standing committee. I understand it now, but I'm hoping, for our listeners to these proceedings and for the future of our Hansard document, that the Minister can properly define that Carltona doctrine so everyone understands how the law is being changed to reflect that principle, which currently we only have in scare quotes. If the Minister can give just a description of that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Sebert.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wonder if I might defer that question to Mr. Reddy, to my right. My recollection of exactly what this means has been lost in the mists of time. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Reddy.