Bill 75 — First Session, 17Th Legislature, 21 Elizabeth Ii the Legislative Assembly of Alberta Bill 75 the Ombudsman Amendment Act, 1972 the Attorney General (Legislature 17, Session 1)

L17 S1 5056

Alberta — Bills

1972 Bill 75 First Session, 17th Legislature, 21 Elizabeth II THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ALBERTA BILL 75 The Ombudsman Amendment Act, 1972 THE ATTORNEY GENERAL First Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Second Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Third Reading ............................. . Printed by L. S. Wall, Queen's Printer, Edm~mton

BILL 75 1972 THE OMBUDSMAN AMENDMENT ACT, 1972 (Assented to , 1972) HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legisl lative Assembly of Alberta, enacts as follows: 1. The Ombuds'man Act is hereby amended.

Section 8 is amended by striking out subsection (1) and by sUbstituting the following: 8.

(1) The Ombuds,man shall be paid a salary at the rate of (a) $28,000 a year, effective as of January 1, 1971, and (b) $30,000 a year, effective as of January 1, 1972, which shall be charged to and paid out of the General Revenue Fund.

Section 9, subsection (1) is amended by adding after the words "except in accordance with

section 19, sub section (2)~' the words "or

section 21.1, subsections (3) and (4) ".

Section 16 is amended by striking out subsection (3) and by sUbstituting the following:

(3) Subject to

section 26, subsection (3), it is not neces sary for the Ombudsman to hold any hearing and no person is entitled as of right to be heard by the Ombudsman.

Section 17 is amended by adding the following sub

section after subsection (1):

(1.1) Where the Ombudsman requires the production of a document, paper or thing under subsection (1), he may require it to be produced at a place designated by him and may require that it be left in his possession for the purposes of. ~is investigation but, upon the request of the deputy mInIster of the department or the administrative head of

Explanatory Notes l. This Bill will amend

chapter 268 'Of the Revised Statutes 'Of Alberta 1970.

Section 8, subsection (1) presently reads: 8.

(1) The Ombudsman shall be paid a salary of $20,000 a year which shall be charged to and paid out of the General Revenue Fund.

Section 9, subsection (1) presently reads: 9.

(1) Before entering upon his duties, the Ombudsman shall take an oath that he will faithfully and impartially perf'orm the duties of his office and that he will not, except in accordance with

section 19, subsection (2), divulge any inf.ormation received by him under this Act. See the Note to

section 7 of this Bill.

Section 16, subsection (3) presently reads:

(3) It i,s not necessary for the Ombudsman to hold any hearing and no person is entitled as 'Of right to be heard by the Ombudsman, but, if at any time during the -course of an investigation it appears to the Ombudsman that there may be sufficient grounds for his making a report -or recommendation that may adv,ersely affect any departmeI1t, agency Dr person, he shall give to that department, agency Qr oers'On an opportunity to be heard, and the department, agency or person is entitled to counsel at the hearing. See Note to secti'On 8 'Of this Bill.

Section 17, subsecti'On (1) presently reads: 17 ..

(1) Subject to this

section and

section 18, the Ombudsman may req~lre any. person who, in his 'opinion, i.s able to gtive any infor matIOn relatmg tD any matter being investigated by him (

a) to furnish the information to him, and (

b) to produce any document, paper or thing that in his opinion relates to the matter being investigated and that may be in the possessi'on or under the contr.ol .of that person, Whether or not that person is an officer, employee or member of a depart.ment or agency and whether or not the document, paper Dr thing IS in the custody Dr under the contl"01 of a department or agency.

the agency, the Ombudsman shall return the document paper or thing to the department or agency as quickly a~ possihle, but not later than 48 hours after ,the receipt of the request, subject to his right to again require its production in accordance with this section.

Section 20 is a1nended by striking out subsection (6). 7. The following

section is added after

section 21: 21.1

(1) No report or recommendation of the Ombuds n1an or any investigation or other proceeding under this Act leading to a report or recommendation of the Ombuds man shall b8 made the subj ect of (

a) an inquiry under The Public Inquiries Act, or (

b) an inquiry, 'investigation, review or hearing by any person or body pursuant to any other Act. (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to an inquiry, investi gation, review or hearing conducted by (

a) the Legislative Assembly, or (

b) a committee of members of the Assembly appointed by a resolution of the Assembly, or (

c) a commissioner under The Public Inquiries Act, if a resolution of the Assembly authorized the Lieu tenant Governor in Council to make an order for the inquiry under that Act, or (

d) any other person or body appointed by a resolution of the Assembly, and any resolution made under clause (b), (

c) or (

d) shall prescribe the terms of reference of the inquiry, investiga tion, review or hearing.

(3) Notwithstanding

section 19 or any oath taken under

section 9 or 10 but subject to subsection (4), (

a) the Ombudsman or a former Ombudsman, or (

b) any person who holds or formerly held an office or appointment under the Ombudsman or a former Ombudsman, is a compellable witness in any inquiry, investigation, re view or hearing mentioned in subsection (2) in respect of matters that came to his knowledge in the course of the administration of this Act. ( 4) The Ombudsman or any other person mentioned in s~bsectio.n (3) who is a witness in any inquiry, investiga tIon, reVIeW or hearing mentioned in subsection (2) 2 (

a) shall not answer any question or be compelled to answer any question, and

Section 20, subsection (6) presently reads:

(6) Notwithstanding anything in this section, the Ombudsman shall not, in any report made under this Act, make any comment that is adverse to any person unless the person has been given an opportunity to be heard. See Note to

section 8 of this Bill. 7. The new

section 21.1 prohibits a Royal Commission inquiry or any other kind of investigation or review of a report or recom mendation of the Ombudsman or any proceedings leading to it, unless otherwise authorized by the Legislative Assembly, the body to whom the Ombudsman is responsible.

(

b) shall not produce or be compelled to produce any document, paper or thing, where the Ombudslllan or counsel on his behalf objects on the ground that the answer, document, paper or thing relates to matters of a secret and confidental nature.

(5) Where a former Ombudsman or any person who holds or formerly held an office or appointment under the Ombudsman or a former Ombudsman is summoned as a witness in an inquiry, investigation, review or hearing men tioned in subsection (2), the person who summoned that witness shall forthwith give notice of that fact to the Om budsman that is sufficient in the circumstances to enable him to appear and to make objections in respect of the witness's testimony pursuant to subsection (4).

Section 26 is amended by adding the following sub

section after subsection (2):

(3) The Ombudsman shall not, in any report made under this section, express any opinion or make any comment that is adverse to (

a) any department or any officer or employee of a de partment, or (

b) any agency or any member or employee of an agencY,or (

c) any other person or group of persons, unless, prior to making the report to the Legislature or publishing the report pursuant to subsection (2), as the case may be, the Ombudsman had given that department, agency, officer, member, employee, person or group of persons an opportunity to know the nature of the opinion or comment and to make representations to him in respect of it either personally or by counsel. 9. This Act comes into force on the day upon which it is assented to. 3

8. The new subsection 26(3) replaces part of the present

section 16(3) and

section 20 (6) of the Act. See sections 4 and 6 of this Bill. The two subsections apparently deal with the same subject matter but in different terms. The new

section 26 (3) is thus in tended to clarify the matter of the right to make representations to the Ombudsman ~n one provision. The new subsection (3) will apply only in respect to those reports of the Ombudsman that be come public that is, his reports to the Legislature under

section 26 (1) and any report he publishes under

section 26 (2) . 3 Title: 1972 (17th, 1st) Bill 75, The Ombudsman Amendment Act, 1972

Document details

Collection	Alberta — Bills
Citation	L17 S1 5056
Type	bill
Volume / chapter	L17 S1 5056
Language	en
Format	json
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	9e668b4098350261ddd5f989f740ee227611af4c

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