Brendan Bell

I am pleased to be here today to review Bill 12, Garnishment Remedies Statutes Amendment Act.

This bill amends the Creditors Relief Act, the Territorial Court Act and the Public Service Garnishee Act so that a garnishment order would continue to be in effect for up to one year or until the debt is paid, whichever comes first. The legislation also amends the Exemptions Act to increase the amount of wages that are exempt from garnishment.

Garnishment orders are used to collect debts that have been ordered paid by the court. The order is served on the person who owes the debtor money, usually the...

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the Member I do it more than once a month on an ongoing basis. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me first indicate to the Member that certainly the community and this Member have convinced me of the need for a detachment in Sachs Harbour. One of the most pressing reasons is the distance for service from Inuvik. I was in Sachs Harbour, talked about my desire to see RCMP officers on the ground in the summer of 2007. We wouldn't have a permanent detachment by that point. We would have to send a detachment up in '08 in the summer season. So sometime in fall '08 the detachment could be operational.

Mr. Speaker, the federal government will come up with the...

Mr. Speaker, I think it’s best that we sit down with the community and talk about some options. Obviously the concern is after hours and we need to come up with some sort of 24-hour mechanism in order to do it in a cost-effective manner. We have looked at solutions like this translation service through the telephone. I am not sure that that would be adequate. It’s possible we can work with other departments and talk about the need maybe at the health centre. Potentially there is translation there that we could borrow. Mr. Speaker, I will say that this is a problem. We can’t go by the number...

The Member is correct, Madam Chair.

Madam Chair, as I stated in my comments, currently the exemption is $300, plus a further $100 per adult, $80 per child. This proposed amendment raises that to 30 percent of net salaries and wages. As I have indicated as well, this is something we took from other jurisdictions. This is where the bar sits in a number of other jurisdictions. Thank you.

Madam Chair, for the record, we agree with the Member. She has made, what we think, is a reasoned argument. We know that we need to go to the judges, at any rate, to have the rules of court changed, so I would propose that what I do is direct my officials to sit down with the judges and propose that this be changed to allow this to happen, and I'm prepared to do that. So I think that's how we can best deal with this. The rules of court need to be changed. As the Member said, notice served to employees, the fact that another jurisdiction equals being served to the employee and I think we...

I want to thank the committee again for their support in this, and thank the Member for her personal interest in this. Obviously her operational experience in the court system probably was behind a number of the suggestions that she was bringing forward in committee. I do believe that they have improved the bill and I think that that's good to see. I look forward to her questions and any other committee questions. Thank you.

I would. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Wednesday, October 25th, 2006, I’ll move that Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Jury Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.