Daryl Dolynny

Mr. Chair, if that is indeed true, I don’t believe the Collective Agreement is considered legislation. I consider that an agreement, as it is intended, is with another third party.

As I said, repealing definitions, in my opinion, makes our legislation less prescriptive. It could be interpreted in different ways. We’ve heard that the term “layoff” is substantive in another form. I didn’t quite understand where this term “layoff” is.

Is the term “layoff” defined in any legislation, not regulations, that the department uses in its due course? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d like to welcome the Minister and the department here today as we talk about the amendments to the Public Service Act here. Before I get into my general comments, I think it’s important that we discuss some of the presumptive language around the term “direct appointment” within the scope of this bill. Clearly, some Members, including myself, have a great deal of concern on the frequency and the volume of direct appointments granted by Cabinet and as Ministers. These appointments typically circumvent the public process of competition which, in my opinion, undermines the...

We all know that there’s a growing trend towards private sales and not using a realtor.

Will the government, under MACA’s lead, review the consumer and protection legislation with a view to making changes to protect potential home buyers in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Common law for residential real estate requires that a seller disclose latent or hidden defects that he or she is aware of and that could not be seen in an ordinary inspection. Most real estate purchase contracts obligate sellers to disclose certain information, especially with respect to compliance with municipal regulations and appliances. While generally not legally mandated in Canada, seller property disclosure statements, also called property condition statements or seller property information statements, afford some protection to both buyers and sellers.

My...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don’t want to steal the Minister’s thunder. As a committee member, I support the objective of minimizing any disruption to the continuity of employment for affected employees to reduce their stress for these individuals during a time of uncertainty in their lives. Nonetheless, there is particular wording that exists in this section, Section 27(3) of the Public Service Act, and it remains an amendment contemplated in this Bill 30. I find this clause very troubling.

The cause of concern is the wording which gives the Minister the authority to appoint the employee without...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have been listening very attentively to the issue regarding this clause. To save time and energy of the House I’d like to move a motion, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I will ask my question again. Is the term “layoff” defined in any of our legislation? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I did find it odd that we are repealing definitions within the purview of an amendment of an act. It is to my understanding that when we were doing legislative review, legislation in its pure form is supposed to be as prescriptive and definitive as possible to remove ambiguity, ambiguity in definition and ambiguity in law.

Although we heard earlier today that the term is used seldom – I heard only once in some other form of legislation – this would actually prove that even more detrimental that definitions are not removed from legislation. That there’s a clear and definite...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my Member’s statement earlier today, I was hoping the government would be doing more than just taking a look at things. We need to tighten up the belt in this area and we owe it to the public to do so. So, without seeing this mysterious population growth strategy from Cabinet that is trying to encourage more permanent NWT residents, has the government, under MACA’s lead, given any consideration to lowering the risk of buying a home in support of this strategy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

If the Minister can inform the House, we know very well that other provinces do have measures to protect home buyers, and the voluntary disclosure statements are just one form. As I mentioned in my Member’s statement today, we do have other techniques or tools such as the requirement for realtors to require error and omission.

Can the Minister indicate to the House where are we on maybe providing certain measures to protect the home buyer and seller?