Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Legal and Constitutional Affairs
Issue 22 - Nineteenth Report of the Committee
Thursday, November 27, 2014
The Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs has the honour to table its
NINETEENTH REPORT
Your committee, to which was referred the document entitled ''Proposals to correct certain anomalies, inconsistencies and errors and to deal with other matters of a non-controversial and uncomplicated nature in the Statutes of Canada and to repeal certain provisions that have expired, lapsed or otherwise ceased to have effect, tabled in the Senate on May 15, 2014'', has, in obedience to its order of reference of Wednesday, May 28, 2014, examined the said proposals and now reports the same, with the following comments.
The MSLA Process and Committee Study:
The Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment (MSLA) Program is a periodic legislative exercise to correct anomalies, inconsistencies, outdated terminology or errors that have crept into the statutes. It provides a process for facilitating the passing of minor non-controversial amendments. There have been 10 MSLA proposals since 1975, with the most recent being in 2001.
The Legislation Section of Justice Canada is responsible for administering the program. It collects and reviews proposals for amendments that come primarily from Government of Canada departments or agencies and, in several cases, from the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations. Four key criteria must be met in order for any proposed amendments to be included in the Department of Justice's proposals document; namely, the proposals must not:
be controversial;
involve the spending of public funds;
prejudicially affect the rights of persons; or
create a new offence or subject a new class of persons to an existing offence.
As a result of this program, a document entitled ''Proposals to correct certain anomalies, inconsistencies and errors and to deal with other matters of a non-controversial and uncomplicated nature in the Statutes of Canada and to repeal certain provisions that have expired, lapsed or otherwise ceased to have effect'', was tabled in both Houses of Parliament by the Minister of Justice on 15 May 2014 and referred to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights and the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.
If either committee considers a proposed amendment to be controversial or to not meet the other criteria, it is to be withdrawn. Each committee may also add new proposals for the other to consider, providing that they meet the above-noted criteria.
Once the committees have reported to the House of Commons and Senate on their review of the proposals, the Department of Justice Legislation Section then prepares a Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment bill. The bill is subject to ordinary enactment procedures; however, since the amendments have already been approved by both committees, it usually receives three readings without debate.
The proposal tabled on May 15, 2014, contains 177 clauses that propose to amend 69 federal statutes. Many of the proposed amendments are fairly straightforward, especially where the Explanatory Notes that accompany the proposals provide sufficient background information. However, the Explanatory Notes do not always provide all the information necessary for a full understanding of the statute being amended and what effect the proposed change would have on it. Such cases may require a more detailed understanding of the affected statute itself in order to ensure that the proposed changes are non-controversial.
Your committee held two meetings and heard from nine departmental officials in reviewing this proposal. The committee also received a number of written responses to specific questions provided to Justice Canada.
The committee recommends that in the future, consideration be given that similar proposals be referred to the Standing Joint Committee on Scrutiny of Regulations in order to allow for a better coordination of queries and undertakings from the various government departments.
The committee also notes that the time period between the 2014 MSLA proposals and the previous one in 2001 was quite lengthy, especially in comparison to the short periods between previous proposals. This resulted in the accumulation of a very large number of proposed amendments. The committee therefore recommends that future MSLA proposals be prepared on a more regular basis.
Conclusions:
As a result of this review, the committee recommends the removal of two of the proposals. These proposals are listed below, along with the committee's reasons for their removal:
Canada Shipping Act
Clause 24, deals with the English-language version of section 99 of the Canada Shipping Act, S.C. 2001, c. 26, which sets out circumstances by which the Minister of Transport may adjudicate a dispute between ''the authorized representative and a crew member of a Canadian vessel.''
The committee recommends that this clause be withdrawn, at the request of the department, in order to allow further study.
Customs Tariff
Clause 72, amends an error in the French version for tariff item 8302.10.90.
The committee recommends that this clause be withdrawn as this Tariff item was repealed as of September 30, 2014 by the Technical Amendments Order (Customs Tariff), 2014.
Respectfully submitted,
BOB RUNCIMAN
Chair