Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a constituent recently raised concern with me about some abandoned vehicles adjacent to their property which have been an eyesore for many years. Initially, I thought this was a pretty cut-and-dry municipal issue, but after raising it with a colleague on city council, they came back to me and noted that a legislative gap at the territorial level was preventing the city from taking action.
The Motor Vehicles Act currently stipulates that the owner of a vehicle is liable for towing, storage, and disposal fees related to an abandoned vehicle. This works well when the owner is identifiable and can be tracked down but occasionally this is not possible for various reasons. My understanding from liaising with the city is that in order to deal with abandoned vehicles for whom the owner is not clear or the vehicle has lost intrinsic value is a minor modification of the Motor Vehicles Act which would allow officers to deem the vehicle worthless. This would allow tow companies to take the vehicle for scrap disposal as opposed to having to pay to store it indefinitely, which they currently do. Making this small change would assist the city in resolving this issue for my constituent but also in a wider sense as I know this is not an isolated issue. It occurs throughout my city, Mr. Speaker, and I have heard this is a problem at the Inuvik airport and that it is affecting cleanup of Enterprise also, to name a few other areas in the territory it is creating problems.
Mr. Speaker, this is a relatively minor legislative change which would help our municipalities address a longstanding issue. So I am hoping our infrastructure Minister can get this done quickly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Members' statements. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
