Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the Hon. Member from Yellowknife South, that Bill 5, An Act to Amend the Maintenance Orders Enforcement Act, be read for a second time.
Mr. Speaker, this bill amends the Maintenance Orders Enforcement Act to provide additional enforcement measures that may be taken by a Maintenance Enforcement Administrator for the purpose of enforcing a maintenance order so that it is filed with the Maintenance Enforcement Office.
The new enforcement measures:
expand the types of information that the administrator may, for the purposes of enforcing a maintenance order, require a person or body to disclose regarding a debtor;
allow the administrator to advertise for information regarding the whereabouts, assets, employment and financial circumstances of a debtor whose arrears under a maintenance order have accrued beyond the amount or time period prescribed in the regulations;
allow the administrator to direct a credit reporting agency to include information about a debtor in its reports to third parties, if the debtor’s arrears under a maintenance order have accrued beyond the amount or time period prescribed in the regulations;
allow the administrator to disclose to government departments and public agencies any information about a debtor that could be disclosed to a credit reporting agency;
allow the administrator to require a financial statement from a debtor who is in arrears;
allow the administrator to request that a debtor who is in arrears attend a payment conference to arrange payment of the arrears;
provide for garnishment of money in bank accounts of a debtor;
provide for attachment of deferred profit sharing plans, registered retirement income funds, and registered retirement savings plans of a debtor;
provide that a maintenance order may be registered in the Land Titles Registry against the real property of a debtor, and that the registered interest may be enforced by sale of the real property in the same manner as in the case of a mortgage;
empower the administrator to direct the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to suspend or impose conditions on the driver’s licence of a debtor, or to refuse to issue a driver’s licence to a debtor, if the debtor’s arrears under a maintenance order have accrued beyond the amount or time period prescribed in the regulations;
provide that a corporation in respect of which a debtor is the sole shareholder or director and holds the sole beneficial interest, is jointly and severally liable for arrears of the debtor that exceed $500 at any time after a notice to that effect is served on the corporation by the administrator;
allow the administrator to apply to the court for an order for joint and several liability of a corporation that is under the control of a debtor, or under the control of a debtor and one or more others who are in a non-arm’s-length relationship with a debtor, if the arrears of that debtor exceed $500 at any time after a notice to that effect is served on the corporation by the administrator;
allow a court to order an individual is jointly and severally liable for maintenance payments and any arrears, to the extent of the value of any assets or benefit that a debtor has conferred on the individual for the purpose of evading an obligation to pay maintenance, if the individual knew or ought to have known the purpose;
allow a court to set aside a gift or transfer of assets made with an intention to evade an obligation to pay maintenance by a debtor to a recipient in a non-arm’s-length relationship with the debtor.
The administrator is allowed to withdraw a maintenance order from the enforcement program if the order is for the maintenance of a child whom the administrator considers is no longer living with or dependent on the creditor. A creditor may also apply to the administrator to have a maintenance order withdrawn.
The bill replaces the fixed minimum exemption for wages by providing that 50 per cent of wages after deductions, or an amount prescribed in the regulations, whichever is greater, is exempt from attachment.
The bill authorizes regulations to be made respecting:
the contents of financial statements;
the service of documents and giving of notices;
the charging and collection of interest on arrears of maintenance, and prescribing the rate at which the interest accrues;
costs recoverable by the administrator under notice of attachment or a garnishee summons;
fees recoverable by the administrator in respect of dishonoured cheques.
The bill creates offences and sets out penalties for contravening or failing to comply with certain provisions, and it includes consequential amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Bill 5 has had second reading and is referred to committee.
Motion carried; Bill 5 read a second time and referred to a standing committee.
