HANSARD
NOVA SCOTIA HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
COMMITTEE
ON
LAW AMENDMENTS
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Committee Room
Revised Statutes of Nova Scotia 2023
Printed and Published by Nova Scotia Hansard Reporting Services
LAW AMENDMENTS COMMITTEE
Hon. Brad Johns (Chair)
Dave Ritcey (Vice Chair)
Hon. Pat Dunn
Hon. Steve Craig
Melissa Sheehy-Richard
Lorelei Nicoll
Braedon Clark
Gary Burrill
Lisa Lachance
[John A. MacDonald replaced Hon. Steve Craig.]
[Tom Taggart replaced Hon. Pat Dunn.]
In Attendance:
Mr. Gordon Hebb
Chief Legislative Counsel
Karen Kinley
Legislative Counsel
HALIFAX, TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2024
LAW AMENDMENTS COMMITTEE
12:00 P.M.
CHAIR
Hon. Brad Johns
THE CHAIR: Order. It’s 12:00 noon, so I would like to call to order the Law Amendments Committee for today, January 30, 2024 - our first meeting of 2024. Welcome, everybody. I want to thank everyone for coming in for this special meeting today. I appreciate everyone’s time, as does Gordon.
My name is Brad Johns. I’m the MLA for Sackville-Uniacke. I’ll be chairing the meeting today.
Before we get things under way, I’m going to ask the MLAs to identify themselves for the record. I’ll start with the government side, please.
[The committee members introduced themselves.]
THE CHAIR: Thank you very much for your introductions. I’d also like to recognize the Legislative Counsel who are here with us today - Gordon Hebb, as well as Karen Kinley. Before we turn things over to Gordon to let members know what we’re doing today, I would ask all the members to please turn off your phones or put them on vibrate. I remind everyone that there’s no taking pictures today. I’m just running what’s on the agenda. I think that’s it.
I will turn things over to Legislative Counsel Gordon Hebb, who will explain what we’re doing at the committee today.
GORDON HEBB: You have before you a report that is technically what we are being asked to approve: the report on the revision, which you will see laid out on the table where the witnesses usually are. There are 18 volumes of 573 statutes and a thin appendix. This is the 11th revision in 173 years. As I said, 573 statutes, revised.
What I want to emphasize is that there is no change in the law. What we’ve done is we’ve taken the statutes and consolidated. We’ve updated names of government departments and other organizations, which have gotten out of date over the years, and because every statute doesn’t get amended, some statutes haven’t been amended since 1989. Government department names and ministers change over time.
We’ve removed spent provisions. There are provisions that apply to situations or times that are so far in the past that they have no relevance today. We’ve removed forms. A lot of forms and a lot of the Acts - and we’re specifically authorized to do that. Instead of them being amended by the Legislature, they can be amended in future by regulation. Because of provisions that are spent or have been repealed and provisions added, we’ve renumbered the provisions. Internal cross references of other statutes have had to be changed.
The thing that I’m really keen on is that we have modernized the language and style to what we’ve been doing for the last several years. The older statutes - not all of them, some of them are just too old to really rewrite - using plainer language and tried to have a more uniform style.
We’ve changed a few titles. Some of the titles were out of date. In particular, I’m thinking of one Act - the Volunteer Protection Act. There’s also a Volunteer Services Act. They’re both volunteer protection Acts. It’s confusing to people as to which Act, so we’ve renamed the Volunteer Protection Act as the Volunteers in Non-profit Organizations Act. There are some Acts that we’ve renamed like the Woodmen’s Lien Act, which we’ve renamed the Woods Workers Lien Act. So there are some changes like that. We’ve dropped a lot of unnecessary apostrophes in titles. Again, no change in the law.
Your role today, what I’m asking for, is for you to approve the report, which refers to the statutes there on the table. If you’ve approved them, the next stage is that I, on behalf of the Law Amendments Committee, will report to the Lieutenant Governor. That report will be countersigned by the Attorney General, and then the revised statutes will be filed with the Chief Clerk. Then they will be subject to proclamation by the Governor-in-Council at a future date.
Unless you have questions, that’s all I have to say.
THE CHAIR: Thank you very much, Mr. Hebb. I will open the floor to questions of committee members if they have any - starting with MLA Clark, please.
BRAEDON CLARK: Not a question, Chair. Just wanted to thank Gordon and the team at Legislative Counsel. I understand that close to a dozen people have been working on this for a few years at least, obviously, given the size of the work here. I’m sure it makes the job of Legislative Counsel much easier and more consistent - the Clerks, us as MLAs, all staff - everybody who deals with the law. I’m sure lawyers all across the province will be happy as well.
I just wanted to congratulate Mr. Hebb and the team at Legislative Counsel. It’s something that happens once every 35 years, I guess, going back to 1989 or so. That’s reason for thanks.
That’s all I wanted to say.
THE CHAIR: Thank you, MLA Clark.
MLA Nicoll.
LORELEI NICOLL: I concur with those comments. I thank you for the great work. I know, having been an elected official for some time, it’s the work like this that does make it a lot easier for government to do their business, modernizing and getting rid of red tape. I acknowledge everyone who has worked on it.
To the fact of it taking 35 years, I just wondered: should something like this be put in the calendar to be revised every so many years, so therefore you’re not at the discretion of an amazing legal counsel to decide when to redo the revisions?
THE CHAIR: I’ll go to Mr. Hebb to answer, please.
GORDON HEBB: That may have merit. It’s interesting when you look across the country, we seem to be a rarity in doing a revision at this time - I guess because of computers and so on. The federal statutes were last revised in 1985, so we’re ahead of them. Talking to my counterparts across the country, I am not hearing that any of them have this in mind. I did hear from one province - I can’t remember which one - which got partly through it and then abandoned it.
This is the eleventh in 173 years. There were five in the 19th century and five in the 20th century. This is the first in the 21st century, and perhaps there will be more.
It would be an easier project to do more frequently. That’s certainly true.
THE CHAIR: Thank you, Mr. Hebb.
MLA Lachance.
LISA LACHANCE: I was just wanting to echo congratulations and gratitude for doing this work, but in this discussion, what prompted this revision, as opposed to other jurisdictions where there isn’t a revision prompted?
THE CHAIR: I’ll go to Mr. Hebb.
GORDON HEBB: I don’t know that I remember. (Laughter) We started this project six and a half years ago - in August six and a half years ago. I was involved with the 1989 revision. I wasn’t Chief Legislative Counsel then, but I was very much involved. I have changed the drafting style over those years, and I guess maybe wanted to spread it through more statutes - the changes I made in the drafting style when I became Chief Legislative Counsel. But I don’t remember the specific inspiration.
THE CHAIR: Any other questions? MLA Sheehy-Richard, please.
MELISSA SHEEHY-RICHARD: I’d be honoured, if everyone’s finished, to be able to make the motion on this, simply because I was a paralegal once upon a time. Just coming in here today, I actually have a little bit of goosebumps of how proud I was to be sitting here on this committee as this is coming forward. Six and a half years, and to see it all laid out here is a tremendous effort. I’m really proud that we, all of us, are moving forward in languages that are gender neutral. I think it’s something that Nova Scotia being small but mighty, once again proves to be a great leader. Thank you for your work on that.
THE CHAIR: Perfect. Any other questions?
I think that once approved, stamped and signed by the Lieutenant Governor and the Attorney General, these will then be posted to the website. It will make it a lot easier for the general public, I think, to find the bills on the website as well.
If there are no more questions from anybody, I will ask for a motion. I’ll recognize MLA Sheehy-Richard for the motion, please.
MELISSA SHEEHY-RICHARD: I’m going to take a stab at it.
Moved that the report of the consolidation and revision officer respecting the Revised Statutes of Nova Scotia 2023 as presented to the Law Amendments Committee be approved by the committee.
THE CHAIR: We have a motion.
All those in favour? Contrary minded? Thank you.
The motion is carried. Unanimous consent.
If we have no other business, that will conclude business. We’ll adjourn the meeting. Thank you once again, everyone, for coming in. Have a great day.
[The committee adjourned at 12:11 p.m.]
