Bill C-60 (Historical)

Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2017

An Act to correct certain anomalies, inconsistencies and errors and to deal with other matters of a non-controversial and uncomplicated nature in the Statutes of Canada and to repeal certain Acts and provisions that have expired, lapsed or otherwise ceased to have effect

This enactment is the 12th in a series of bills introduced under the Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment (MSLA) Program. It amends 41 Acts to correct grammatical, spelling, terminological, typographical and cross-referencing errors, update archaic wording and correct discrepancies between the two language versions. It also updates the names of certain organizations, for example, “Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants” is replaced with “Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada”. Finally, it contains amendments repealing eight Acts that no longer have any application, for example, the Maintenance of Ports Operations Act, 1986.
This enactment has been drafted based on the Thirteenth Report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights tabled in the House of Commons on May 31, 2017 and the Twenty-first Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs tabled in the Senate on June 21, 2017.
BACKGROUND AND PROCESS
The MSLA Program was established in 1975 to allow for minor non-controversial amendments to be made to a number of federal statutes at once, in one bill, instead of making such amendments incrementally when a particular statute is being opened for amendments of a more substantial nature.
The legislative process for introducing an MSLA bill in Parliament is different from the usual legislative process and involves four main steps: the preparation of a document containing the proposed amendments; the tabling of that document in Parliament and its review by a committee of each House; the preparation of an MSLA bill, based on the committees’ reports, that contains the proposed amendments that were approved by both committees; and finally, the introduction of the bill in Parliament.
The proposed amendments must meet all of the following criteria:
(a) not be controversial;
(b) not involve the spending of public funds;
(c) not prejudicially affect the rights of persons;
(d) not create a new offence or subject a new class of persons to an existing offence.
The document containing the proposed amendments is tabled in the Senate and referred to its Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs and in the House of Commons and referred to its Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. Each committee reviews the proposed amendments in the document, prepares a report of its findings and presents it to the appropriate House.
Perhaps the most important feature of committee review is that, since a proposed amendment must not be controversial, its approval requires the consensus of the committee. Therefore, if a single member of a committee objects for any reason to a proposed amendment, that proposed amendment will not be included in the MSLA bill.
After committee review, an MSLA bill is drafted based on the reports of the two committees and contains the proposed amendments that were approved by both committees. Once the bill is introduced in Parliament, it is subject to the ordinary enactment procedures; however, the bill usually receives three readings in each House without debate since the amendments contained in the bill have already been considered and approved by committees of both Houses.

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

I have the honour to inform the House that when the House did attend Her Excellency the Governor General in the Senate chamber, Her Excellency was pleased to give, in Her Majesty's name, the royal assent to the following bills:

Bill C-305, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (mischief)—Chapter 23.

Bill S-211, An Act respecting National Sickle Cell Awareness Day—Chapter 24.

Bill S-3, An Act to amend the Indian Act in response to the Superior Court of Quebec decision in Descheneaux c. Canada (Procureur général)—Chapter 25.

Bill C-60, An Act to correct certain anomalies, inconsistencies and errors and to deal with other matters of a non-controversial and uncomplicated nature in the Statutes of Canada and to repeal certain Acts and provisions that have expired, lapsed or otherwise ceased to have effect—Chapter 26.

Bill C-23, An Act respecting the preclearance of persons and goods in Canada and the United States—Chapter 27.

Bill C-277, An Act providing for the development of a framework on palliative care in Canada—Chapter 28.

Bill C-67, An Act for granting to Her Majesty certain sums of money for the federal public administration for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018—Chapter 29.

Bill S-236, An Act to recognize Charlottetown as the birthplace of Confederation—Chapter 30.

Bill C-36, An Act to amend the Statistics Act—Chapter 31.

(Bill C-60. On the Order: Government Orders:)

October 3, 2017—The Minister of Justice—Second reading and reference to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights of Bill C-60, An Act to correct certain anomalies, inconsistencies and errors and to deal with other matters of a non-controversial and uncomplicated nature in the Statutes of Canada and to repeal certain Acts and provisions that have expired, lapsed or otherwise ceased to have effect.

Bill C-48--Time Allocation Motion

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed in this, and we as a party are offended.

There was an agreement made two and a half weeks ago when this session started that we would work together with the government and not be obstructionist, but work to help pass bills that we were able to support.

The result so far is that the government has passed Bill S-2, C-21, C-47, and Bill C-58 all without time allocation, and progress was being made on three more bills, Bill C-55, C-57, and C-60.

There was one bill that we said we had a lot of interest in and would like to have enough time for all of our members to be able to speak, and that was Bill C-48. Now the House leader has broken her word. There is no other way to interpret this. If this is the way she is going to start this session after we have worked in such good faith for the last two and half weeks, all the members know that it will be a case of here we go again: a repeat of the failure we saw in the spring session.

Where in the world is the House leader's integrity and ability to keep her word?

Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, I would like to table, in both official languages, a charter statement on Bill C-60, an act to correct certain anomalies, inconsistencies and errors and to deal with other matters of a non-controversial and uncomplicated nature in the Statutes of Canada and to repeal certain acts and provisions that have expired, lapsed or otherwise ceased to have effect.

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-60, An Act to correct certain anomalies, inconsistencies and errors and to deal with other matters of a non-controversial and uncomplicated nature in the Statutes of Canada and to repeal certain Acts and provisions that have expired, lapsed or otherwise ceased to have effect.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)