Second

Session, 46th General Assembly

Elizabeth II, 2009

BILL 55

AN ACT TO IMPLEMENT

LABOUR MOBILITY

Received and Read the First Time ...................................................................................................

Second Reading .................................................................................................................................

Committee ............................................................................................................................................

Third Reading .....................................................................................................................................

Royal Assent ......................................................................................................................................

HONOURABLE DARIN KING

Minister of Education

Ordered

to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This Bill would allow certified

workers from other jurisdictions to practise their occupations in this province

in accordance with

Chapter Seven of the Agreement on Internal Trade, and, in

particular, would provide that regulators in this province consider and apply

Chapter Seven when workers who are certified for an occupation in a signatory

jurisdiction apply to obtain certification in this province for that occupation.

A BILL

AN ACT TO IMPLEMENT LABOUR

MOBILITY

Analysis

Short title

Definitions

Approved measures

Application of agreement

Conflicts

Agreement does not become law

Prohibition on private cause of action

Power to make regulations

Commencement

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and

House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

Short title

1. This

Act may be cited as the Labour Mobility Implementation

Act .

Definitions

2. In

this Act

(a) "agreement" means the Agreement on

Internal Trade, signed in 1994 by the governments of Canada ,

the provinces, Yukon and the Northwest

Territories and includes amendments

to the agreement;

(b) "applicable provincial regulator",

in relation to an occupation, means the regulatory authority that is authorized

to issue certification in the province in relation to that occupation;

(c) "approved measure" means a measure

approved under

section 3 ;

(d) "Canadian jurisdiction" means a

jurisdiction the government of which is a party to the agreement;

(e) "certification", in relation to a

worker, means a certificate, licence, registration or other form of official

recognition issued to the worker by a regulatory authority of a Canadian

jurisdiction that attests the worker is qualified and authorized to do one or

both of the following:

(

i) practise a particular occupation in the

Canadian jurisdiction, and

(ii) use in the Canadian jurisdiction a particular

occupational title, designation or abbreviated title or designation;

(f) " extraprovincial

occupation" means an occupation in relation to which a worker holds a

certification in a Canadian jurisdiction other than this province;

(g) " measure "

includes

an Act, a regulation, directive, requirement, guideline, program,

policy, an administrative practice or procedure;

(h) " minister "

means the minister appointed under the Executive

Council Act to administer this Act;

(i) " occupation "

means a set of jobs that, with some variation, are similar in their main tasks

or duties or in the type of work performed;

(j) " occupational

standard" means the skills, knowledge and abilities required for an

occupation as established by a regulatory authority of a Canadian jurisdiction

and against which the qualifications of an individual in that occupation are assessed;

(k) " provincial equivalent

occupation", in relation to an extraprovincial occupation, means an

occupation in this province that consists of a set of jobs that is the same as

or is substantially similar to the set of jobs that constitutes the extraprovincial

occupation;

(l) "regulatory authority", in relation

to the province or another Canadian jurisdiction, means a person or other body,

whether or not a governmental entity, that has, by

an Act or regulation, been

granted authority to set or implement measures related to one or more of the

following:

(

i) the establishment of occupational standards or

certification requirements,

(ii) the assessment of the qualifications of

workers against established occupational standards or certification requirements,

and

(iii) the official recognition that an individual

meets established occupational standards or certification requirements; and

(m) " worker " means

an individual, whether employed, self-employed or unemployed, who performs or

seeks to perform work for pay or profit.

Approved measures

(1) An

applicable provincial regulator shall not apply, with respect to an application

for certification in relation to an occupation, a measure that is inconsistent with

Chapter Seven of the agreement, unless the measure is approved by the Lieutenant-Governor

in Council.

(2) An applicable provincial regulator shall not

adopt, maintain or change an occupational standard except in conformity with

Article 707 of

Chapter Seven of the agreement.

Application of agreement

(1) A

worker who holds a certification in relation to an extraprovincial occupation

may, if there is a provincial equivalent occupation in relation to which

certification may be issued,

(

a) apply for certification in relation to that provincial

equivalent occupation; and

(

b) practise the provincial

equivalent occupation in the province after obtaining that certification and

satisfying a term, condition or requirement imposed on that certification under

subsection (2).

(2) An applicable provincial regulator, when

considering an application under paragraph (1)(a), shall decide the

application, and impose terms, conditions or requirements on a certification

issued in response to the application, in accordance with

Article 706 of

Chapter

Seven of the agreement.

Conflicts

(1) In

the event of a conflict between a provision of this Act and

(

a) another Act or a regulation; or

(

b) another measure of, or applicable to, an applicable

provincial regulator,

the provision of this Act prevails.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), this Act and

regulations made under this Act shall be read and applied in conjunction with

the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement

Act and, where a provision of this Act or regulations made under this Act

is inconsistent or conflicts with a provision, term or condition of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement Act

, the provision, term or condition of the Labrador

Inuit Land Claims Agreement Act shall have precedence over the provision of

this Act or a regulation made under this Act.

Agreement does not become law

6. Nothing

in this Act gives the agreement the force of law.

Prohibition on private cause of action

(1) A

legal proceeding does not lie or may not be brought or continued against the province

or another person to enforce or determine a right or obligation that is claimed

or arises solely under the agreement.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a proceeding

that is contemplated by

Chapter Seventeen of the agreement.

Power to make regulations

8. The

Lieutenant-Governor in Council may make regulations

(

a) respecting information that shall be collected

and maintained by each applicable provincial regulator respecting applications

for certification under this Act;

(

b) respecting reports that shall be given by applicable

provincial regulators, including regulations respecting the timing, format and

content of those reports;

(

c) respecting the information that an applicable

provincial regulator shall provide to an applicant under paragraph 4 (1)(

a) in relation to

the application, including regulations respecting the timing within which and

the format by which that information shall be provided; and

(

d) generally to give

effect to the purpose of this Act.

Commencement

9. This Act comes into force on June 30, 2010 .

Earl G. Tucker, Queen's Printer