Bill No. 97 - Credit Union Act. - Third Reading

CLAUDIA CHENDER: Mr. Speaker, the Credit Union Act is essentially, we understand, a housekeeping bill. The amendments came out of a regular review as well as federal regulations that necessitate this new legislation. We know that managers of the credit unions were consulted; we know that the key changes are small and, for the most part, make a lot of sense, but we also know that this government didn't consult the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for Nova Scotia and she has registered concerns.

So, without going into any of that in detail again, I would just say that it is our position that there may in fact be good reasons not to follow the advice of privacy experts but, at the very least, the members of this House deserve to know what those reasons are, as do the citizens of Nova Scotia. So, while in general I think this Act seems to make sense - it's not offensive - we still have a major reservation based on what we have been told by privacy experts.

So, with those few words, I'll take my seat and, hopefully, look forward to some comments from the minister on why that decision was made.