Justice committee  It covers precisely those cases where the authority for incorporation by reference had not been expressly laid out but where the procedure was still being used given the government's position that it was possible to do so. As I mentioned on Thursday, what it also does is end th

Justice committee  That is correct. In the case of a specific piece of enabling legislation, if it does not appear in Bill S-2, the regulator would have to establish that missing authority by way of case-specific legislation.

Justice committee  Existing enabling legislation would actually have to be amended. As mentioned, incorporation by reference already exists and is widely used. In many cases, existing enabling legislation would need to be amended in order to establish the authority specifically. So it would require

Justice committee  On a case-by-base basis, a department could sponsor a specific piece of enabling legislation for that type of incorporation, but it would be excluded from the framework legislation, Bill S-2.

Justice committee  Precisely.

Justice committee  Yes, it would be necessary to specifically establish enabling legislation on a case-by-case basis, instead of having that option automatically, as Bill S-2 seeks to provide for.

Justice committee  Indeed, it's important to mention that this provision is not a retroactive provision. It's purpose is simply to confirm the government's position on the matter. Had it not been for section 18.7, the joint committee could have insisted on the fact that certain regulations should

Justice committee  That isn't what we said. Sometimes, the regulatory authorities translate the documents themselves so that there are two versions and the regulated persons can have better access. Obviously, the decision to translate a document comes under the regulatory authority. However, harmo

Justice committee  Accessibility does not really apply to official languages. For example, if a court decided that there was a real reason for not having the document available in both languages, I imagine that the case would go forward. However, if it was proven that there was no legitimate reason

Justice committee  There would be access through mechanisms other than the Canada Gazette. It might be through a website or something else. Technology is constantly changing. There might even be an iPad app. We might one day have an application that will make the documents accessible. It's always i

Justice committee  According to the government, when external documents from another agency without a link to the regulatory process are incorporated by reference, it is considered that it is for a legitimate reason and that Canada can seek out any expertise that exists elsewhere and use it. The j

Justice committee  It's important to remember that incorporation by reference is a choice, not an obligation. There are different ways to implement our international obligations. We can do it through legislation, incorporation by reference or routine regulations. The regulatory authorities have a r

Justice committee  Mr. Chair, I would like to thank the hon. member and suggest she refer to the last example of incorporation by reference that we provided. It clearly illustrates the application of subsection 18.1(3) that you referred to. In this type of context a number, an index or a rate coul

Justice committee  Mr. Chair, I would say to the hon. member that the following distinction needs to be made. The documents incorporated by reference will not be published in the Canada Gazette. The idea underlying incorporation by reference is primarily not having to publish the incorporated docu

Justice committee  Right.