Masi. To the principle of the bill.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
I will now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, committee wishes to continue considering Bill 13, Marriage Act; Tabled Document 315-18(2), Supplementary Estimates, (Infrastructure Expenditure) No. 3, 2016-2017, and Tabled Document 316-18(2), Supplementary Estimates, (Operational Expenditures) No. 2, 2016-2017, and Tabled Document 317-18(2), Supplementary Estimates, (Infrastructure Expenditures) No. 1, 2017-2018. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. I just want to clarify with Mr. Beaulieu. Bill 13 was the first one that you wanted to consider, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That is correct, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, committee, and that is what committee agreed to. So we have agreed to consider Bill 13. I will ask the Minister responsible for the bill to introduce it. Minister Abernethy.
I am pleased to be here today to introduce Bill 13, Marriage Act.
This bill will replace the current Marriage Act. The current act predates the 1988 consolidation of Northwest Territories health statutes. Minor amendments have been made to the Marriage Act since then; however, none have kept pace with the Federal Government’s Civil Marriage Act and with other provincial and territorial marriage legislation.
It is important that we update the existing legislation now to ensure compliance with the federal Civil Marriage Act and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The bill reorganizes the provisions in the Marriage Act in a more logical way, and adopts plain language so that residents can better understand the requirements and procedures for getting married in the Northwest Territories.
The proposed bill is consistent with other jurisdictions’ marriage legislation while recognizing specific needs of the Northwest Territories, for example by making it easier for residents in smaller communities to get a marriage licence.
The bill proposes several key changes to the existing act including:
Marriage of individuals under the age of 16 will be prohibited to comply with the federal Civil Marriage Act;
A public registry of marriage licence issuers will be established to make it easier for residents to find a marriage licence issuer closest to them;
Allows for the establishment of a public registry of marriage commissioners and registered clerics in the future;
There is greater clarity around the provisions regarding the consent required for minors wanting to marry;
Individuals will be prohibited from being under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time they are requesting a marriage licence, requesting bands, or at the marriage ceremony;
Gender specific references will be removed;
Provisions relating to persons who were previously married are simplified;
Confidentiality provisions are included to protect the privacy of individuals; and
Eligibility requirements for individuals applying to be appointed as marriage commissioners will reflect current administrative practice.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Standing Committee on Social Development for their review of the bill and their comments.
I am pleased to answer any questions Members may have.
Thank you, Minister. I will now turn to the Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Development, the committee that considered the bill for opening comments, Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Standing Committee on Social Development concluded its review of Bill 13, Marriage Act on January 20, 2016. The public hearing was held here at the Legislative Assembly Building. Although the committee received no public submissions on the bill, Members understand that this bill has been long awaited in the legal community and are pleased that the Northwest Territories will now have marriage legislation in keeping with federal standards and national best practices.
The committee was satisfied with the Minister's fulsome response to its questions and welcomes the implementation and new statute, which is coming into force. 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, please.
Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, please introduce your witnesses to the committee.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left is Denise Canuel, who is the director of policy with the Department of Health and Social Services. On my right, Mr. Druyan, who is the legislative counsel with the Department of Justice, who worked on this piece of legislation.
Thank you, Minister, and welcome to the witnesses. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 13. General comments? Seeing none, does committee agree that we proceed to a clause-by-clause review of the bill?
Agreed.
Committee, there are 52 clauses. Would committee like to look at the bill 10 clauses at a time? Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will defer the bill number and title until after the consideration of the clauses. Please turn to page 5 of the bill. Clauses 1 through 10. Comments or questions? Seeing none. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Clauses 11 through 20. Ms. Green.
Mr. Chair, we have a problem, in that we don’t have a hard copy of the bill. The binders are no longer present. Could we be advised of where to find the copy of the bill?
The hard copies of the bill were circulated earlier in the afternoon, were they not? Committee pause while we figure this out.
---SHORT RECESS
I will now call the Committee of the Whole back to order. Committee, when we left off we were considering Bill 13, Marriage Act. Now that we all have hard copies distributed, we'll go through the clause-by-clause consideration. We are agreed on clauses 1 through 10. Now I will call clauses 11 through 20. Comments or questions on clauses 11 through 20, which begin on page 7. Thank you, committee.
Agreed.
---Clauses 11 through 52 inclusive approved.
Thank you, committee. Committee, to the bill as a whole. Does committee agree that Bill 13, Marriage Act, is now ready for third reading?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Bill 13 is now ready for third reading. Does committee agree that this concludes our consideration of Bill 13, Marriage Act?
Agreed.
Thank you, Committee. Thank you, Minister, and thank you to your witnesses. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber.
Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 315-18(2), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2016-2017 next. Does the Minister of Finance have any opening remarks? Minister McLeod.
Yes, I do, Mr. Chair. I am here to present Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2016-2017. This document provides for an increase of $7.6 million to the 2016-2017 infrastructure expenditures budget. The major items in these Supplementary Estimates include:
$5.2 million for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the shortfall in the Air Tractor Fleet project due to the significant decline in the Canadian dollar resulting from declining oil prices in 2016.
$2.6 million for the Department of Transportation for the costs associated with the preparatory and environmental assessment work for the Tlicho All-Season Road project. This expenditure is partially offset by revenue from the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.
That concludes my opening remarks. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Do you have witnesses you wish to bring into the House?
Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, would you please introduce your witnesses to the committee.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to my right I have Mr. David Stewart, the deputy minister of the Department of Finance. To my left, I have Mr. Sandy Kalgutkar who is the deputy secretary to the Financial Management Board. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Committee, I'll give you a moment to find your copies of the supplementary estimates. Do we have general comments on the supplementary estimates? Seeing none, we will begin considering the document. It begins on page 6. Committee, just to make sure everyone has their documents. Does committee agree that we begin considering the detail on page 6?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 6, Health and Social Services, operations expenditures summary, administrative and support services. Do we have comments or questions on this page? Seeing none, I will call it. Health and Social Services, operations expenditure. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to clarify the establishment of the NWT Organ and Tissue Donation Registry. When is the expected go-live date of that project now that we are securing funding for it?
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the expected start-up date is 2017. As for the exact time, I'd have to maybe confirm that and share that with Members, but it is 2017. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding, this was something that was approved by a previous -- not approved, but a lot of work went into this in the 17th Assembly and I wonder if there is any detail as to why the funding originally allocated to it from the midwifery program was not spent to establish it in the 17th Assembly. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister, how would you like to answer this question?
I'd like to direct that to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Minister Abernethy.
