Second

Session, 46th General Assembly

Elizabeth II, 2009

BILL 15

AN ACT TO AMEND THE

LEGAL AID ACT

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

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

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

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

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

HONOURABLE

THOMAS W. MARSHALL, Q.C.

Minister of Justice and Attorney General

Ordered

to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This Bill would amend the Legal Aid Act to repeal paragraphs 49(

a) and (

c) to improve the efficiency of processing legal aid applications. As a consequence, sections 48 and 49 would be

repealed and substituted by one section.

A BILL

AN ACT TO AMEND THE LEGAL AID ACT

Analysis

Ss.48 & 49 R&S

Legal aid in

summary conviction matters

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and

House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

RSNL1990 cL-11 as

amended

1. Sections 48 and 49 of the Legal Aid Act are repealed and the following substituted:

Legal aid in

summary

conviction matters

(1) The

area director may only grant legal aid to a person otherwise entitled to it in

a

summary conviction proceeding under

an Act of the Parliament of Canada or of

the Legislature where he or she is of the opinion that

(

a) there is a likelihood

of imprisonment or loss of means of earning a livelihood upon conviction; or

(

b) because of

extraordinary circumstances, it is in the interests of justice that the

applicant be represented by counsel.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph 47(d), an

offence that may be tried on indictment or on

summary conviction shall be

considered to be an offence triable on

summary

conviction until the time that the prosecution elects to proceed on indictment.

Earl G. Tucker, Queen's Printer