Third

Session, 46th General Assembly

Elizabeth II, 2010

BILL 8

AN ACT TO AMEND THE

NOTARIES PUBLIC ACT

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

29, 2010

Second Reading ........................................................................................................ May

13, 2010

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

Amendment

June 10, 2010

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

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

HONOURABLE

FELIX COLLINS

Minister of Justice and Attorney General

Ordered

to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This Bill would amend the Notaries Public Act to address a number

of deficiencies found in it.

It would permit persons who have the

status of permanent residents of Canada to be appointed as notaries

public.

It would remove an obsolete provision

respecting the setting of fees that a notary public may charge.

It would make it an offence to purport

to be a notary public when one is not.

A BILL

AN ACT TO AMEND THE NOTARIES PUBLIC ACT

Analysis

S.2 Amdt.

Appointments of notaries

1.1 S.5 Amdt.

Revocation of appointment

S.7 Rep .

Rules committee may fix scale of fees

3. S.10 Added

Offence

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and

House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

RSNL1990 cN-5

as amended

1. Subsections 2(1) and (2) of the Notaries Public Act are repealed and the

following substituted:

Appointment of

notaries

(1) The

Minister of Justice may appoint a person who is a Canadian citizen and resident

in the province or a person who has the status of a permanent resident of

Canada and is a resident of the province to be a notary public for the province.

(2) A person who wishes to be appointed a notary

public shall apply in writing to the Minister of Justice and the application

shall be accompanied by his or her affidavit stating that the person is a Canadian

citizen or has the status of a permanent resident of Canada, the date and place

of his or her birth and his or her place of residence.

1.1. Subsection 5(6) of the Act is amended by

deleting the words and commas "or who, after the revocation of his or her

appointment, uses or exercises the powers conferred upon a notary public by

this Act".

Section 7 of the Act is repealed.

3. The Act is amended by adding immediately after

section 9 the following:

Offence

(1) A

person who holds himself or herself out as a notary public without having been

appointed as one is guilty of an offence and liable on

summary conviction to a

fine of not more than $500.

(2) A person whose appointment as a notary public

has been revoked under subsection 5(1) or (2) who after the revocation uses or

exercises a power conferred on a notary public by this Act is guilty of an

offence and liable on

summary conviction to a fine of not more than $500.

Earl G. Tucker, Queen's Printer