B.C. INTRODUCES MISCELLANEOUS STATUTES AMENDMENT ACT

VICTORIA – Bill 43, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2008, introduced in the legislature today, will affect the following statutes:

Employment Standards Act – Amendments to the Employment Standards Act will support Canadian Forces reservists by ensuring their jobs are protected when they are deployed for overseas duty or domestic emergencies. Reservists will be entitled to leave without pay from their civilian jobs while they are employed with the Canadian Forces. This amendment will apply to all employers covered by the Employment Standards Act.

Final Agreement Consequential Amendments Act, 2007 – Amendments are necessary to give effect to the final agreements with the Tsawwassen and Maa-nulth First Nations and ensure consistency between the final agreements and other existing laws. Included are amendments to the Land Title Act concerning procedures related to the transfer and subdivision of treaty and other lands.

Home Owner Grant Act – An amendment to the Home Owner Grant Act will allow appeals to be heard directly by the minister. Currently, such appeals are heard by the home owner grant administrator. The amendment will enhance the fairness of the review process for taxpayers and will also bring the home owner grant appeal process more in line with other tax acts.

Law and Equity Act – Amendments to the Law and Equity Act will clearly define compensation eligibility when property interests on Crown land are expropriated by or on behalf of government. The amendments will only affect Crown land, not private land, and will provide greater certainty for holders of Crown property interests. They will clarify how all provincial statutes should be interpreted with respect to compensation and protect taxpayers from unexpected and unwarranted claims for compensation.

Local Government Act – Amendments will modernize and clarify how the Province can implement local government restructures, as some of the provisions in the legislation are nearly 100 years old. These amendments do not change the basic principles or approach for local government restructures, including the incorporation of new municipalities or boundary extensions or changes to regional districts or improvement districts.

Motor Vehicle Act – Amendments will make enhanced driver’s licences (EDLs) a continuing option for Canadian citizens who live in B.C., allowing them to cross the land or sea border from Canada to the U.S. with a single piece of identification. The Province announced the first phase of the EDL program in January and is working with ICBC and the federal government to establish the full program by spring 2009.

Another change to the MVA will allow B.C. to implement the Canadian driver’s licence agreement (CDLA). This change will ensure that traffic violations committed anywhere in Canada can be added to a driver’s record in B.C. By improving the exchange of driver record information between provinces and territories, the CDLA will contribute to road safety by holding drivers accountable for their driving actions wherever they drive in Canada.
Further changes to the act will strengthen the overall security of all drivers’ licences by having applicants provide documented proof of their legal presence in Canada. B.C. identification cards will be strengthened in the same way.

Finally, amendments will preserve the admissibility of vital evidence from drivers who cause serious accidents. Currently, the act requires a driver who causes an accident to report it to police. However, recent court decisions ruled that such compelled statements are not admissible, since they would potentially violate the driver’s charter rights. The changes will ensure that drivers will still have to report accidents, but to an agency to be identified through regulations, rather than police. This will ensure high-risk offences like impaired driving can be successfully prosecuted and punished. The changes also ensure valuable information about accidents will continue to be collected in order to inform initiatives to improve traffic safety in B.C.

Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act (No.3) – Additions will support the new governance structure in the Comox Valley region. The legislation validates fire protection, water and waste management service arrangements between the Comox Valley Regional District and Strathcona Regional District. The legislation will also enable the Comox Valley Regional District and its member municipalities to harmonize development cost charges for future development.

The act will be further amended to allow for the creation of one municipality for the town of Fort Nelson and the regional district of Northern Rockies. Consultations with local area First Nations, a referendum of area electors and addressing effects for industry will be concluded before considering changing the local governments’ structures. The two entities have wanted to become one local government for a long time due to the small, dispersed population and the rural nature of the region. They already operate under an integrated and unique governance arrangement.

Representative for Children and Youth Act – Amendments will allow the representative to publicly confirm, if asked, that a matter is before her office. The representative will have the ability to disclose this information only after determining that the public interest outweighs the privacy interests of the individual whose personal information is being disclosed.

Further, the representative, and those she employs or appoints, will not be compelled to give evidence in court on matters commenced under the Child, Family and Community Services Act. This amendment is consistent with the role of the representative as recommended by the Hughes Review. It brings the office of the representative in line with other officers of the legislature.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Act – Amendments to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act are being proposed in order to support BC Energy Plan policy commitments by increasing the responsiveness of the tenure process.

Issuing tenure is the first step in the process of developing oil and gas resources. These amendments add flexibility to the tenure process to support B.C.'s commitment to environmentally and socially responsible development.
These amendments reflect commitments of the BC Energy Plan that include increased engagement with communities and First Nations, increased consideration of environmental values, increased exploration in new basins and increased flexibility in tenuring systems.
These changes to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act will support the BC Energy Plan commitment that companies will not be allowed to surface discharge water produced by coalbed gas operations.

Private Career Training Institutions Act – Changes will enable the Private Career Training Institutions Agency (PCTIA) to set basic education standards for all registered private career training schools. The PCTIA will also be given authority to investigate if students complain they have been misled by their institution. If complaints are substantiated, students will be able to receive tuition refunds from the student training completion fund. The changes also ensure the PCTIA board will have greater public representation.

Provincial Court Act, Judicial Compensation Act and Supreme Court Act – Changes will fully implement the outcome of the 2007 judicial compensation process for Provincial Court judges and judicial justices of the peace (JJPs), increase the retirement age for all provincially appointed judicial officers to 75 and enable the reappointment of retired judges to handle backlogs.

Transportation Investment Act – Amendments to the Transportation Investment Act are in addition to the amendments contained in Bill 14 that create a new Crown corporation to deliver the Province’s Port Mann/Highway 1 Project. The additional amendments will address Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA) requirements respecting the collection, use and disclosure of personal information arising from the toll collection and enforcement function and establish the legislative authority needed to enable the collection of outstanding tolls from out-of-province commercial vehicles at weigh scale stations.

Treaty First Nation Taxation Act – Amendments support the implementation of final agreements with the Tsawwassen and Maa-nulth First Nations and include requirements that a treaty first nation adjust taxes in response to supplementary assessments.

Vancouver Charter – Changes will allow a member of Vancouver City Council who was not present at a public hearing to receive an oral or written report so they can vote on the land use bylaw that was the subject of the hearing. This will provide the City of Vancouver with the same authority as other local governments under the Local Government Act.

-30-

MINISTRY CONTACT LIST:

Provincial Court Act, Judicial Compensation Act, Supreme Court Act,

Representative for Children and Youth Act:

Ministry of Attorney General

Dave Townsend

250 387-4962

250 889-5945 (cell)

Law and Equity Act:

Ministry of Agriculture and Lands

Liz Bicknell

250 356-2862

250 213-3072 (cell)

Final Agreement and Consequential Amendments Act,

Treaty First Nation Taxation Act:

Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation

Deborah Bowman

250 953-3211

Private Career Training Institutions Act:

Ministry of Advanced Education

Linda O’Connor

250 952-6400

Local Government Act, Vancouver Charter

Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act (No. 3):

Ministry of Community Services

Marc Black

250 356-6334

Petroleum and Natural Gas Act:

Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources

Jake Jacobs

250 952-0628

Employment Standards Act:

Labour and Citizens’ Services

Rob Duffus

250 387-3134

Motor Vehicle Act:

Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General

Cindy Rose

250 356-6961

Home Owner Grant:

Ministry of Small Business and Revenue

Dave Crebo

250 387-4193

Transportation Investment Act:

Ministry of Transportation

Jeff Knight

250 356-7707




For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca.