Daryl Dolynny

Mr. Chair, I will ask my question again. Is the term “layoff” defined in any of our legislation? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I did find it odd that we are repealing definitions within the purview of an amendment of an act. It is to my understanding that when we were doing legislative review, legislation in its pure form is supposed to be as prescriptive and definitive as possible to remove ambiguity, ambiguity in definition and ambiguity in law.

Although we heard earlier today that the term is used seldom – I heard only once in some other form of legislation – this would actually prove that even more detrimental that definitions are not removed from legislation. That there’s a clear and definite...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my Member’s statement earlier today, I was hoping the government would be doing more than just taking a look at things. We need to tighten up the belt in this area and we owe it to the public to do so. So, without seeing this mysterious population growth strategy from Cabinet that is trying to encourage more permanent NWT residents, has the government, under MACA’s lead, given any consideration to lowering the risk of buying a home in support of this strategy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

If the Minister can inform the House, we know very well that other provinces do have measures to protect home buyers, and the voluntary disclosure statements are just one form. As I mentioned in my Member’s statement today, we do have other techniques or tools such as the requirement for realtors to require error and omission.

Can the Minister indicate to the House where are we on maybe providing certain measures to protect the home buyer and seller?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. “Buyer beware” seems to be the prevailing mantra for home buyers in the NWT. I find that disturbing, given that a home is the largest and most important purchase most families will ever make.

There is very little emphasis on protecting NWT home buyers from hidden defects of the property they purchase. As usual, we are behind other jurisdictions on both protective measures and basic public education.

NWT home buyers have little protection beyond the common law and that is minimal at best, because if the law is ignored by the seller, the remedy for the buyer is often more...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that proposed subsection 27(3) in clause 4 of Bill 30 be amended by striking out “to any position in the public service” and substituting “to any vacant position in the public service”. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I believe that’s the justification of the argument today, where we are actually removing the definition even though it’s used in a noun or a verb. We are clearly lessening the legislative process by making more ambiguity in terms of the wholeness of the act, the spirit of the act and the intent of the act. If this is indeed the premise we are about to embark on, I strongly suggest that all departments coming forward to remove definitions is not really what we’re looking for, for great legislation. We’re looking for legislation to have proper definitions so we can understand...

Mr. Chair, if that is indeed true, I don’t believe the Collective Agreement is considered legislation. I consider that an agreement, as it is intended, is with another third party.

As I said, repealing definitions, in my opinion, makes our legislation less prescriptive. It could be interpreted in different ways. We’ve heard that the term “layoff” is substantive in another form. I didn’t quite understand where this term “layoff” is.

Is the term “layoff” defined in any legislation, not regulations, that the department uses in its due course? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d like to welcome the Minister and the department here today as we talk about the amendments to the Public Service Act here. Before I get into my general comments, I think it’s important that we discuss some of the presumptive language around the term “direct appointment” within the scope of this bill. Clearly, some Members, including myself, have a great deal of concern on the frequency and the volume of direct appointments granted by Cabinet and as Ministers. These appointments typically circumvent the public process of competition which, in my opinion, undermines the...

We all know that there’s a growing trend towards private sales and not using a realtor.

Will the government, under MACA’s lead, review the consumer and protection legislation with a view to making changes to protect potential home buyers in the Northwest Territories?