Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I certainly will.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are changing the definition of spouse so that it no longer means people who are married, so common-law couples will be included now as well.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know where the Member gets the idea that the funding that we offer to school divisions now is prescriptive. There’s about $125 million that goes to schools. The only part of that that is prescriptive is the $7 million that’s stipulated to go into aboriginal languages and culture, and the $16 million that has to go into special needs. Other than that, it’s wide open. The schools can use the money as they see fit. We give them money that we say this portion is allocated for transportation, but we don’t require them to spend it on transportation. They can put the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that clause 10 of Bill 17 be amended by striking out “section 6 of Bill,” in proposed section 1.1 of the Workers’ Compensation Act and by substituting “section 6 of Bill 17,”.

Madam Chair, this motion amends clause 10 to correct the internal reference back to Bill 17, Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act, in a new application provision being added to the Workers’ Compensation Act.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Let’s take an example. If a person is a member on a board, like in our Conflict of Interest Act. For instance, if one the Members here…They have to declare the interest of their spouse. What this amendment does is make sure that that condition exists under the Conflict of Interest Act. So a member of a board would have to then be aware and public of the interests of their partner, whether they are same sex or heterosexual. Right now, that is not covered. Right now, the Conflict of Interest Act doesn’t provide the same protection to the public that you find in some...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If an education authority wanted to put their money into providing that kind of service within their school area, they could. Mr. Speaker, I just want to be clear about my previous answer. Many of the kids who are not attending school tend to come from poorer families and we need to address that issue before we start addressing finding those families and making them even poorer to put them back in school. The Member has been recommending that we use the law to try and enforce attendance at school by finding families if their kids don’t attend. What I said yesterday was...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I can only go by the chair's opening comments to the bill today in which it was noted that the committee decided not to proceed with moving any amendments during its clause-by-clause review in order to allow for discussion of any motions in Committee of the Whole during its review of the bill in its entirety so that all Members could participate.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. With me, I have Ms. Lucy Austin, who is the executive director of the Legal Services Board; and Mr. Mark Aitken, the director of legislation division.

Mr. Chairman, I move that clause 9 of Bill 17 be amended by striking out “section 6 of Bill,” in proposed subsection 10(5) of the Wills Act and by substituting “section 6 of Bill 17,”.

Mr. Chairman, this motion amends clause 9 to correct an internal reference back to Bill 17, Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act, in a transitional provision being added to the Wills Act. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We are here today to review Bill 17, Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act.

The bill we are reviewing today does not address marriage. The Supreme Court recently confirmed that it is the exclusive responsibility of the federal government to define marriage.

A few weeks ago, the federal Justice Minister introduced the Civil Marriage Act in the House of Commons. If passed, it will extend legal capacity for civil marriage to same-sex couples while respecting religious freedom. Until this legislation is passed or there is a court decision in the Northwest...