Thank you, committee. I’ll ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the witnesses into the Chamber.
Minister Abernethy, please introduce your witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my right is Kelly McLaughlin, the director of legislation. On my left is Emily Ingarfield, the policy analyst. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. We’ll now open the floor to general comments on Bill 18, Apology Act. Clause-by-clause review of the bill?
Agreed.
Clause 1.
---Clauses 1 through 3 inclusive approved
To the bill as a whole.
Agreed.
Does the committee agree that Bill 18, Apology Act, is ready for third reading?
---Bill 18 as a whole approved for third reading.
We’ll have the Sergeant-at-Arms escort the witnesses out. Thank you.
As agreed, we’ll move to Bill 19, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2013. We’ll go to the Minister responsible, Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to be here today to speak about Bill 19, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2013. I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Social Programs for their review of this bill.
The purpose of this act is to amend various statutes of the Northwest Territories for which minor changes are proposed and errors or inconsistencies have been identified.
Each amendment included in the bill had to meet the following criteria:
It must not be controversial;
It must not involve the spending of public funds;
It must not prejudicially affect rights;
It must not create a new offence or subject a new class of persons to an existing offence.
Departments responsible for the various statutes being amended have reviewed and approved the changes.
Most amendments proposed in Bill 19 are minor in nature and many consist of technical corrections to a statute. The amendments are of such a nature that the preparation and legislative consideration of individual bills to correct each statute would be time consuming for the government and the Legislative Assembly.
I will be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. We’ll go to the chairman of the Standing Committee on Social Programs, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Standing Committee on Social Programs conducted its public review of Bill 19, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2013, on September 18, 2013. The clause-by-clause review was conducted the same day.
The committee thanks the Minister and his staff for presenting the bill. The bill corrects inconsistencies and errors in the statues of the Northwest Territories. The bill also deals with matters of a minor and uncomplicated nature in the various statues. A minor amendment was made at the committee clause-by-clause review and was concurred with by the Minister. Following the committee’s review a motion was carried to report Bill 19, Miscellaneous Statutes Law Amendment Act to the Assembly as ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole as amended and reprinted.
This concludes the committee’s opening comments on Bill 19. Individual Members may have additional questions or comments as we proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Would the Minister like to bring witnesses into the House?
Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. I’ll ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the witnesses into the Chamber.
Could the Minister please introduce the witnesses?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Today with me on my right is Kelly McLaughlin, the director of legislation with the Department of Justice.
Thank you. I’ll open the floor up to general comments on Bill 19, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2013. Going to the clause-by-clause review. Clause 1.
---Clauses 1 through 13 inclusive approved
To the bill as a whole.
Agreed.
Does the committee agree that Bill 19, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2013, is ready for third reading?
---Bill 19 as a whole approved for third reading
I ask that the Sergeant-at-Arms escort our witness out. Thank you, Mr. Abernethy.
As agreed, we’ll go to Bill 21, An Act to Amend the Dental Professional Act. I ask the Minister responsible to introduce the bill. Minister Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to introduce Bill 21, An Act to Amend the Dental Profession Act.
This bill will amend the Dental Profession Act to make the supervision of dental students more practical for the NWT. It is our hope that dental students who take advantage of the opportunity to work for a term in a northern community will return upon completing their dental degree.
We also made minor changes to the act such as changing the term of “secretary” to that of “registrar.” This amendment will also allow the Minister to appoint a registrar who will be responsible for registering all applicants. The act is also being amended to comply with the labour mobility provisions in the Agreement on Internal Trade.
In addition, this amendment will update the composition of the Dental Registration Committee so that the proposed changes will now reflect that the registrar is formally appointed to the Dental Registration Committee as well as an employee of the department.
The proposed amendments will allow the Dental Registration Committee to approve a dental specialist’s application if an applicant is licensed or registered in another province. Alternatively, an applicant can show that they have passed the National Dental Specialty Exam and have successfully completed a specialty training program accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada.
I would like to thank members of the standing committee for their review of this bill and for their comments. Thank you, also, to the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Hay River South for bringing this matter to the attention of the department. Finally, I would like to thank the NWT/Nunavut Dental Association for their support in seeing this legislative initiative through.
That concludes my opening remarks. I would be pleased to answer any questions Members may have. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Beaulieu. We’ll now go to the chairman of the Standing Committee on Social Programs, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Standing Committee on Social Programs conducted a public review of Bill 21, An Act to Amend the Dental Profession Act, on September 18, 2013. The clause-by-clause review was conducted the same day.
The committee thanks the Minister and his staff for presenting the bill. The bill revises registration requirements for specialists, as well as the registration and supervision requirements for students. It also amends the composition of the Registration Committee and creates a position of the registrar replacing the secretary.
Finally, the bill makes a change to meet the requirements of the Agreement on International Trade and respect of residents. Following the committee’s review, a motion was carried to report Bill 21, An Act to Amend the Dental Profession Act, to the Assembly as ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole.
This concludes the committee’s opening comments on Bill 21, An Act to Amend the Dental Profession Act. Individual Members may have additional questions or comments as we proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Would the Minister like to bring witnesses into the House?
Yes, Mr. Chair.
Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. I would ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the witnesses into the Chamber.
Would the Minister please introduce the witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To my right I have Thomas Druyan, legislative council, and to my left, Gillian Burles, senior policy advisor, legislation.
Thank you. I will now open the floor for general discussion on Bill 21, An Act to Amend the Dental Profession Act. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was just wondering: With respect to the residency and the agreement in trade, does this essentially mean that if we have a local dentist in a community that’s barely big enough to support a dentist, but through good fortune we’ve managed to capture one and have him reside there, that now another dentist can come in and undercut this dentist by avoiding the steep costs of maintaining infrastructure locally and employees locally? Is that in fact what this is doing? Is it enabling non-resident dentists to do this under the agreement in trade?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This will only prevent us from not registering a dentist from practising in the NWT as opposed to specific community by community but for the whole territory as a whole.
Was that a yes?
I suppose that possibility could occur.
I think it falls under that be careful what you ask for. This is the sort of thing that many governments are pursuing now, to the cost of their residents and especially to the cost of local sustainability, and that’s why I raised this question. I will be voting against this bill.
From our perspective, if the other dentists wish to practise in the NWT that would provide more services. We’re short dentists, as we hear in the Legislative Assembly frequently, so we would welcome other dentists to come in and practise.
Thank you, Minister Beaulieu. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If we can maybe get some clarity. We assume that this amendment was reviewed by the dental profession itself of the Northwest Territories. Did the department receive any submissions to speak against this amendment that we have here today from the Dental Association?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We did not receive opposition. We received an e-mail of support from them.
My second question has to do with individual dentists. Did we receive any individual dentists submit any type of notation, letter, e-mail or phone call that spoke against this amendment that we have before us today?
We did not receive anything like that from any dentist.
Finally, and I thank the Minister for his response, did we receive any submission whatsoever from any health care professional or residents of the Northwest Territories that is opposing the amendment we have today?
We did not receive any letter opposing this from any resident or health care profession of the Northwest Territories.
The Member for Range Lake is satisfied. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Is committee agreed that there are no further general comments?
