Agreed.
Clauses 21 to 25, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clauses 26 to 28, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Committee, to the bill as a whole, does committee agree that Bill 66, An Act to Amend the Property Assessment and Taxation Act, is now ready for third reading?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Does the committee agree that this concludes our consideration of Bill 66, An Act to Amend the property assessment and taxation act?
Agreed.
Thank you, Minister, and thank you to your witnesses. Sergeantatarms oh, Minister.
Yes, I'd like to thank the staff and the justice department staff that helped us work on this. I'd like to thank committee for the work, and we were able to enhance the bill that we presented with their recommendations. So I'd like to thank everybody for their hard work. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Are you using the same witnesses, or are you swapping them out for the next
We're switching two and bringing one in.
Sergeantatarms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber.
Committee, we've agreed to consider Bill 67, An Act to Amend the Fire Prevention Act. I will ask the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs to introduce the bill.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to present Bill 67, An Act to Amend the Fire Prevention Act. The purpose of Bill 67 is to improve regulatory functions by creating a more authoritative plan review process that includes a formal avenue of appeal for plan review decisions. The bill also includes an exclusion of liability clause which protects statutory actors for actions or omissions done in good faith in the course of their duties.
In addition to these substantive amendments, this bill makes several housekeeping amendments to genderneutralize language and fix nonsubstantive grammatical errors in the Act.
During the Standing Committee on Government Operations review of the bill, the Department worked with committee staff and the Department of Justice on three addition amendments to the bill. The Department is appreciative of the time committee took in reviewing the bill and proposing amendments.
The Department recognizes that Bill 67 does not address the need for a building standards framework in the Northwest Territories. While the Department anticipates proceeding with building standards legislation in the 20th Legislative Assembly, further research and engagement with industry stakeholders and community governments will be needed as part of advancing that work. That concludes my opening remarks and I look forward to hearing comments from Members and answering any questions the Members may have on the bill. Thank you.
Minister, would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?
Yes, I do, please.
Sergeantatarms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, would you please introduce your witnesses.
Sorry, Madam Chair. On my left is Jennifer Young, director of corporate affairs. To my right close to me is Justin Hazenberg, director of public safety. On my far right is Ian Rennie, a drafter for the Department of Justice. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Welcome. I will now turn to the chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, the committee that reviewed the bill, for any opening comments on Bill 67. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Bill 67, An Act to Amend the Fire Prevention Act, received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on November 3rd, 2022, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review.
Bill 67 proposes changes to the Fire Prevention Act, which has not been reviewed since it was first passed in 1988. The committee sought public feedback on this legislation. During its review, the committee heard that clarity and certainty was needed with respect to the timelines of the appeal board process. The committee also heard concerns regarding the composition of the board. At the clausebyclause review of Bill 67 on February 13, 2023, the committee was pleased to pass three motions to strengthen the bill that addressed concerns committee heard from stakeholders.
I would like to thank committee for its work on the review of Bill 67. I'd also like to thank the Minister and staff for their work on the Fire Prevention Act, and I look forward to comprehensive building standards legislation one day. Thank you, Madam Chair. Individual Members may have additional comments.
Thank you. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 67. Are there any general comments? Seeing none, does committee agree that there are no general comments?
Agreed.
Can we proceed to a clausebyclause review of the bill?
Agreed.
Committee, we will defer the bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses. Please turn to page one of the bill. I will call the clauses in groups of five.
Clause 1 to 5, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 6 to 10, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 11 to 15, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 16 to 20, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 21, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Committee, to the bill as a whole, does the committee agree that Bill 67, An Act to Amend the Fire Prevention Act, is now ready for third reading?
Agreed.
Thank you committee. Does committee agree that this concludes our consideration of Bill 67, An Act to Amend the Fire Prevention Act?
Agreed.
Thank you, Minister, and thank you to your witnesses. Sergeantatarms, please escort the witnesses oh, sorry. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, I'd like to thank committee for all their hard work and the staff for being able to enhance and making this bill that much more, and we look forward to the building standards as the chairperson said in the next Assembly. Thank you.
Thank you. Sergeantatarms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber.
Committee, we've agreed to consider Bill 73, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, No. 4. I will ask the sponsor of the bill, the Member for Thebacha, to introduce the bill.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I am pleased to speak to Bill 73, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, No. 4. This bill would adjust the indemnities and allowances listed in parts 1, 2 and 3 of Schedule C, annually using the average change in the consumer price index over the past five years.
Currently, indemnities and allowances for Members of the Legislative Assembly are adjusted each year on April 1st based on the CPI for the previous calendar year. If the status quo is maintained, MLA indemnities and allowances will increase by 6.8 percent on April 1 of this year. However, if Bill 73 passes and a fiveyear rolling average is used as the basis for the adjustment, that would reduce the adjustment from 6.8 percent to 3.02 percent. This method is used in Manitoba and smooths out temporary spikes in inflation like we are seeing now. That concludes my remarks on Bill 73. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?
Thank you. Sergeantatarms, please escort the witness into the Chamber.
Member, will you please introduce your witnesses?
On my left is Tim Mercer, clerk of the Legislative Assembly. On my right is Christina Duffy, legislative division, Department of Justice.
Thank you. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 73. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I don't want to repeat some of the comments I made at second reading. But I just want to ask this happened in the last Legislative Assembly where the new bunch of MLAs were kind of marched off a plank metaphorically and agreed to a twoyear freeze in their salary. But in doing that, it was only later that we found that the freeze actually impacted the and I'm not going to get all of this right. But I think it impacted the staff in the Legislative Assembly itself. So I want to just get a really good understandings of whether this proposal in anyway impact the remuneration for any of the employees, whether they're management or not, at the Legislative Assembly. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member.
