Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Legal and Constitutional Affairs
Issue 35 - Eighteenth Report of the Committee
Tuesday, June 4, 2002
The Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs has the honour to present its
EIGHTEENTH REPORT
Your Committee, to which was referred Bill S-41, An Act to re-enact legislative instruments enacted in only one official language, has, in obedience to the Order of Reference of Wednesday, March 10, 2002, examined the said Bill and now reports the same with the following amendments:
Page 1, clause 2: Replace line 15 with the following:
``(a) an instrument enacted before the coming into force of section 7 of the Official Languages Act on September 15, 1988 by, or with the''
2. Page 2, clause 4:
(a) Replace lines 11 to 13 with the following:
``guage and, at the time of its enactment, was published in only one official language or was exempted by law from the requirement to be published in a government publication, the Governor in''
(b) Replace lines 29 to 37 with the following:
``subsection (1) unless the contravention occurred after the instrument was re-enacted and published in both official languages.''
Page 3, clause 4: Add after line 10 the following:
``(7) Upon the expiration of six years after this Act comes into force, any legislative instrument described in subsection (1) that has not been re-enacted in both official languages is repealed.''
Page 3, clause 6: Replace lines 29 to 37 with the following:
``6. The English and French versions of an instrument re-enacted under section 3 or 4 are equally authoritative.''
5. Page 3, new clauses: Add after line 37 the following:
``7. An instrument that was repealed or that otherwise ceased to have effect on or before the day on which this Act comes into force is not by virtue of this Act or any regulation made under this Act revived in respect of any period subsequent to its repeal or ceasing to have effect.
8. (1) The Statutory Instruments Act does not apply to an instrument re-enacted under section 3 or to a regulation made under section 4.
(2) Instruments re-enacted under section 3 and regulations made under section 4 stand permanently referred to the Committee referred to in section 19 of the Statutory Instruments Act for review and scrutiny.
9. (1) Within five years after the day on which this Act comes into force, the Minister of Justice shall complete a review of the implementation and operation of section 4.
(2) Subject to subsection (3), within one year after the review is completed pursuant to subsection (1), or within such further time as may be authorized by both Houses of Parliament, the Minister of Justice shall submit a report on the review to each House of Parliament that includes
(a) a description of the measures taken to identify legislative instruments referred to in subsection 4(1);
(b) a list of any legislative instruments that have been repealed and re-enacted under subsection 4(1); and
(c) a list of any legislative instruments referred to in that subsection that have been identified but that have not been repealed and re-enacted.
(3) The report referred to in subsection (2) shall, in respect of legislative instruments of a class referred to in subsection 15(3) of the Statutory Instruments Regulations, set out only the number of such instruments that are the types described in paragraphs (2) (a) and (b).''
Respectfully submitted,
LORNA MILNE
Chair