Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am pleased to appear before the committee today to review Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Judicature Act. I would like to start by thanking members of the Standing Committee on Social Programs for their careful review of the bill.

The Judicature Act governs the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories.

There are two substantive changes to the act. The first adds a new section providing that trade orders obtained against the NWT under the Agreement on Internal Trade may be filed with the clerk of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. Once...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The means by which fuel prices are determined hasn’t changed. Costs are based on what it actually costs to buy the product by the GNWT, the cost to ship it to the communities, and there is an admin fee put on it so that individuals in the communities who are distributing it have the money to cover their services, and there are some taxes as well. The means by which these numbers are determined hasn’t changed, but it does result in a higher cost as the product gets more expensive for us to buy.

Madam Chair, I was actually just coming to my last bullet. The bottom line is we understand the flexibility. We get that, but this jurisdiction isn’t a larger jurisdiction where there is significant capacity. Our budgets are incredibly limited in legal aid. We have very little money and that money is not increasing. The feds haven’t increased their contribution. They’re not going to increase the contribution, yet the costs continue to go up. Every time the costs go up and the federal contribution stays the same, that money has to come from the Government of the Northwest Territories. We know...

Acting director of legislation. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The data that was provided actually came from the WSCC. They are the ones who actually track all the clients’ costs and claims incidences.

With respect to late fees for late filing of incidents, I share the Member’s concerns completely. When I saw that data, the first thing I did was direct the department to start digging in to find out why we are late, because it seems to me that we should never be late. That information hasn’t been fully compiled. Once I have that information, I will share that with the Member and committee. I would like an opportunity to sit down and...

I do, Madam Chair.

I mentioned health authorities. The two highest claims areas in the Government of the Northwest Territories are the Stanton Territorial Health Authority and the Fort Smith Health Authority, followed closely by Justice. I indicated authorities and I should have said both.

With respect to claims, the claims change regularly. Every department is different. Some departments are higher; some departments are lower. By way of example, in 2011, HR had $3,400 in claims. So far, third quarter of this calendar year, 2012, they have $86. We do have a wide range of different fees per employment area.

With...

Thank you, Madam Chair. With me today is Mark Aitken, the acting assistant deputy minister with the Department of Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the record, the Safe Advantage program is a program administered by the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission. The program is actually a fairly new program. It’s only been in place for, I think, five years.

The first couple of years were assessment years where they actually monitored what organizations were doing in order to set up the standards for the averaging to see who was above their average and below their average. The first couple of years there were no costs or penalties to anybody.

The GNWT has received some significant penalties in this area under...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here today to talk to you about Bill 2, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2012.

The purpose of Bill 2 is to amend various statutes of the Northwest Territories for which minor changes are proposed, or errors or inconsistencies have been identified.

Each amendment included in the bill had to meet the following criteria:

It must not be controversial;

It must not involve the spending of public funds;

It must not prejudicially affect rights;

It must not create a new offence or subject a new class of persons to an existing offence.

Departments responsible for the...