The Miscellaneous Statute Law

Amendment Program

Background
The Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment (MSLA) Program was established in 1975
by the Department of Justice with the approval of the Cabinet. Since the MSLA Program
was established, 12 Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Acts have been passed, in
1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2001, 2015 and 2017.
The MSLA Program is a periodic legislative exercise administered by the Legislation
Section of the Department of Justice. It is used to correct anomalies, inconsistencies,
outdated terminology or errors in federal statutes. The MSLA Program allows minor,
non-controversial amendments to be made to a number of federal statutes at once, in
one bill, instead of making such amendments incrementally, when a particular statute is
being amended (in the context of a separate legislative initiative).

Procedure and Program Criteria

The legislative process for introducing a Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment bill in
Parliament is different from the usual legislative process in that a document containing
proposed amendments is tabled in Parliament for review by a committee of each House
before the bill is introduced.
The legislative process for introducing a Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment bill in
Parliament involves four main steps: preparation of a document containing the proposed
amendments; tabling of that document in Parliament and its review by a committee of
each House; preparation of a bill, based on the committees’ reports, that contains the
proposed amendments approved by both of them; and finally, introduction of the bill in
Parliament.
To qualify, a proposed amendment must meet the following criteria:

 not be controversial;
 not involve the spending of public funds;
 not prejudicially affect the rights of persons; or
 not create new offences or subject a new class of persons to an existing offence.

The document containing the proposed amendments is tabled in the House of

Commons and referred to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. It is
also tabled in the Senate and referred to the Standing Committee on Legal and
Constitutional Affairs. Those committees will review the proposed amendments in the
document and will each prepare a report of their findings which will be presented to their
respective Houses.
Perhaps the most important feature of committee review is that, since a proposed
amendment must not be controversial, approval of a proposed amendment requires the
consensus of the committee and therefore, if a single member of a committee objects to
a proposed amendment, that proposed amendment will not be included in the
Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment bill.
After committee review, the Legislation Section then prepares a bill, based on the
reports of the two committees, that contains the proposed amendments approved by
both of them. Once the bill is introduced in Parliament, it is subject to the ordinary
enactment procedures; however, the bill usually receives three readings in each House
without debate since the amendments contained in the bill have already been
considered and approved by committees of both Houses.