CONTENTS
Standing Committee on Crown and Central Agencies
Bill No. 142 — The Miscellaneous Statutes (Utility Line Locates) Amendment
Act, 2023
TWENTY-NINTH
LEGISLATURE
of
the
Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan
STANDING
COMMITTEE ON
Hansard Verbatim Report
No.
32 — Monday, March 18, 2024
The
Chair: — Good evening and welcome, committee
members, Mr. Minister, and your officials. We are at the Standing Committee on
Crown and Central Agencies. The members of the committee are myself, Ken
Cheveldayoff, as Chair; Steven Bonk; Fred Bradshaw; Noor Burki; Terry Jenson;
Dana Skoropad; and Doyle Vermette. This evening we have two substitutions.
Erika Ritchie will be subbing in for Doyle Vermette, and Matt Love will be
subbing in for Noor Burki.
I have some documents to table. I’d like
to table the following documents: CCA 39‑29, Crown Investments
Corporation of Saskatchewan: Report of public losses, October 1 to December 31,
2023.
This evening our committee is also
tabling lists from the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel of regulations and
bylaws filed with the Legislative Assembly between January 1st, 2023 and
December 31st, 2023 which have been committed to the committee for a review
pursuant to rule 147(1). The Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel will assist
the committee in its review by submitting a subsequent report at a later date
identifying any regulations that are not in order with the provisions of rule
147(2). However the committee may also decide to review any of these
regulations or bylaws for policy implications.
I’m also tabling three reports from the
Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel that identify any issues pursuant to rule
147(2) that he found with regulations and bylaws filed in 2017, 2018, and 2019,
and any steps that have been taken to rectify these issues. If the committee
chooses, it may bring in the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel to review
these reports at a subsequent meeting. These documents are: CCA 37‑29,
Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel: 2023 regulations filed; CCA 38‑29,
Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel: 2023 bylaws filed; CCA 40‑29, Law
Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel: 2017 report on regulations and bylaws; CCA 41‑29,
Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel: 2018 report on regulations and bylaws; CCA
42‑29, Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel: 2019 report on regulations
and bylaws.
Pursuant to 145(3), chapter 31 of the
Provincial Auditor’s 2023 report volume 2 was committed to the committee on
December the 6th, 2023.
Bill No. 142 — The
Miscellaneous Statutes (Utility Line Locates) Amendment Act, 2023
Clause 1
The
Chair: — All right, today we will be
considering Bill No. 142, The Miscellaneous Statutes (Utility Line
Locates) Amendment Act, 2023. Minister Duncan is here with his officials. I
will remind officials to identify themselves before they speak and not to touch
the microphones. The Hansard operator will turn them on for you.
We will begin our consideration with
Clause 1, short title. Minister Duncan, please make your opening comments and
introduce your officials.
Hon. Mr. Duncan:
— Thank you very
much, Mr. Chair, and good evening to committee members. I’m pleased to be here
to discuss Bill 142, The Miscellaneous Statutes (Utility Line Locates)
Amendment Act. This evening joining me, to my left is Charlene Greve, the executive
vice-president of stakeholder engagement, chief legal officer, and corporate
secretary at SaskEnergy; as well as Terence Dahlem, to my right, is senior
legal counsel at SaskEnergy; and David Keogan is my chief of staff.
Utility
line locating is a critical safety measure to ensure that utility providers
have marked their lines in advance of any ground disturbance work. The bill
before us this evening will result in consequential amendments to the
legislation for SaskPower, SaskTel, as well as SaskEnergy, and brings an
important consistency across the Crown sector by setting a standardized line
locate timing to three working days.
This
bill ensures both safety and predictability by aligning the Crowns with current
excavation industry practices as well as the line locate provisions currently
utilized by Alberta’s one-call service and by the Canada Energy Regulator. By
harmonizing line locate times to three working days, this bill provides
clarity, enhances safety, and codifies the existing line locate practices
utilized by the utilities. In developing this legislation, SaskEnergy consulted
with Crowns, other government ministries, and industry groups, with no negative
responses received.
Mr.
Chair and committee members, I believe that these amendments are a win-win for
both the excavating industry and our Crown utilities. And with that, we would
be pleased to take your questions.
The Chair:
— Thank you, Mr. Minister. Are there any questions? Ms. Ritchie.
Ms.
Ritchie: — Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to
start by saying that certainly it’s good to see that safety and predictability
are goals for these legislative amendments. Certainly safety is critical for
our Crown employees and the work that they do alongside of our industry
partners.
I won’t have too many questions, but I
do have a few I want to put to you, Mr. Minister, through the Chair. The first
being, you mentioned that, you know, the affected Crowns were consulted along
with those in industry, and I wonder if you could tell me specifically who from
industry was consulted.
Hon.
Mr. Duncan: — Thank you very much, Ms. Ritchie,
for the question. I will provide the list to the committee, to yourself, Ms.
Ritchie. So the Saskatchewan Common Ground Alliance, the Technical Safety
Authority of Saskatchewan, SUMA [Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities
Association], SARM [Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities], Crown
Investments Corporation, the Mechanical Contractors Association of
Saskatchewan, the Moose Jaw Construction Association, Prince Albert
Construction Association, Saskatoon Construction Association, Regina
Construction Association, occupational health and safety, the Regina &
Region Home Builders’ Association, SaskPower, the Saskatchewan Construction
Association, the Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association, the Saskatchewan
Heavy Construction Association, SaskTel, Saskatoon Home Builders’ Association,
and the Ministry of Energy and Resources.
Ms.
Ritchie: — Thank you for those responses, Mr.
Minister. I guess, you mentioned also in your remarks that you did not receive
any sort of negative responses. Perhaps you might provide us with a little bit,
anecdotally, in terms of the kinds of feedback you did receive.
Mr. Dahlem:
— Yes. Terence Dahlem with SaskEnergy, senior legal counsel. It was mostly
positive especially by SaskTel and SaskPower because they recognize the
consistency was the goal here. And for some of the other associations, they
were interested in whether this is going to be a mandatory one-call, but
because we did a consequential amendment and not a stand-alone Act, there is
not an Act remaining for which we could use that.
So basically we heard about wish lists
that probably will not happen today. But it was all positive or neutral, any
response we received.
Ms.
Ritchie: — Thank you again. Yeah. I do want to
follow up on one thing that was mentioned there in terms of sort of a one-call
provision. So are you saying that that is something that is not possible with
these amendments? What, sort of, is the current state?
Mr.
Dahlem: — So this has to do with
. . . Saskatchewan 1st Call Corporation was a subsidiary of
SaskEnergy and it no longer is, so we were not in a position to administer the
Act, not having 1st Call as one of our subsidiaries anymore. So the consequential
amendments into SaskTel, SaskPower, and SaskEnergy legislation was seen as the
compromise there, seeing as how we do not have Sask 1st Call anymore. Otherwise
we may administer and do a mandatory first call, but we’re not in that position
anymore.
Ms.
Ritchie: — And just to make sure that I
understand this correctly then, are you saying that when a client is looking to
seek notification, that they have to make individual calls to each of these
Crowns for locates within the stated time frame, or is there a one-call
provision?
Ms.
Greve: — Thank you. Thank you for the
question. Sask 1st Call is the one-call sort of concierge, if you will, service
for people, anyone looking to do ground disturbance work. And it’s for safety
reasons that they’re able to make that one call. And Common Ground Alliance,
being in the industry for ground disturbance and ground work and being a
non-profit corporation, is managing one-call currently.
And so I think the thing here is what
we’re trying to do is . . . And we can achieve the same aims and
goals with respect to the three Crowns who have the majority with massive sort
of lines of pipe, telecommunications, and power infrastructure in the province.
So you can imagine there are many, many calls.
And so by having a standardized time
frame that’s similar for all kinds of infrastructure and locating it, it helps
with efficiency for people that are excavating and constructing and homeowners
and fence builders and whatnot, just to make sure that they are able to plan
ahead and get the service.
And one thing that I might just add in
addition to the minister’s comments is that it’s a period of three working
days, a standard time frame, or as otherwise agreed. You may have read that in
the draft bill.
And the benefit of that, for the
committee’s information, is that it allows larger construction projects to plan
ahead, to look forward in terms of the timing for their construction, to not
have to keep calling in, keep getting locates, and keep locating, you know,
massive tracts of railway line or whatever it is. They can plan and they can
sort of schedule resources in terms of who gets sent out to do the locating
depending on the location, right. And it’s just a lot more efficient, a lot
more simple for people making those requests to be able to plan ahead sometimes
with the agreement portion or to know what time frame they need in terms of
making sure that they’ve got their line locates for their work and safety is
there.
Ms.
Ritchie: — Thank you for that further
clarification. Perhaps I could ask then in follow-up, it indicates “3 working
days, or any longer period set out in an agreement between the person and the
corporation . . .” and so it would be a minimum three working days.
And then if you could describe for me what is contemplated to be part of that
agreement. Is there going to be like a prescribed form? Or how that will work.
Ms.
Greve: — I understand with respect to that,
that with the ticket, with the request that’s made — and I think Terence may
have some other details — but when the request is made they can fill it on
. . . People who take the calls at Sask 1st Call and Common Ground
Alliance do gather that information. If there’s a request to be other than
three days, they make a special arrangement and it’s documented. And of course
that information gets back to the people doing the locating so that they’re
able to schedule appropriately.
Ms.
Ritchie: — And so the organization you
mentioned in terms of . . . that is handling the notifications that
are coming in for line locates, now that is a third-party agency, is it? And
just looking to find out a little bit more about how it’s delegated, this
responsibility, by the government.
Hon.
Mr. Duncan: — Yes, that’s correct. 1st Call
Corporation, Sask 1st Call, is a subsidiary owned and operated by a non-profit,
the Saskatchewan Common Ground Alliance inc.
Ms.
Ritchie: — And then just further to that, so
are they under contract and receiving monies to provide that service on behalf
of the government or the Crown corps?
Hon.
Mr. Duncan: — It’s self-funded through the
tickets.
Ms.
Ritchie: — Okay. And when you say self-funded
through the tickets, does that mean that the clients are paying a fee when they
make the requests for line locates?
[19:15]
Mr.
Dahlem: — That’s correct. And it operates on a
break-even basis, correct. And it’s funded by the tickets and the members,
yeah.
Ms.
Ritchie: — Okay. And then just maybe as my
final question, how will these changes be communicated to the industry?
Ms.
Greve: — Thank you for that question. I think
that the majority of the industry involved in underground excavation is a party
to this, has been consulted, and will be happy to communicate this broadly. And
I’m expecting there’ll be some public announcements as well through our
communications groups and our joint Crown groups as well.
Ms.
Ritchie: — Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have no
further questions.
The
Chair: — Thank you very much. Are there any
other further questions from any other members? Seeing no more questions, we
will proceed to the vote on the clauses. Clause 1, short title, is that agreed?
Some
Hon. Members: — Agreed.
The
Chair: — Carried.
[Clause 1 agreed to.]
[Clauses 2 to 5 inclusive agreed to.]
The
Chair: — His Majesty, by and with the advice
and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, enacts as follows: The
Miscellaneous Statutes (Utility Line Locates) Amendment Act, 2023.
I would ask a member to move that we
report Bill No. 142, The Miscellaneous Statutes (Utility Line Locates)
Amendment Act, 2023 without amendment. Mr. Bonk moves. Is that agreed?
Some
Hon. Members: — Agreed.
The
Chair: — Carried. Any closing comments by the
minister?
Hon.
Mr. Duncan: — Just really quickly, I want to thank
the committee for their work this evening; Ms. Ritchie, for your questions; and
the officials that are here this evening for being here and answering
questions. Thank you.
The
Chair: — Thank you, Mr. Minister. Opposition
members, any concluding comments?
Ms.
Ritchie: — Yes. I’ll just concur with the
minister, thanking him very much for the answers that he’s provided along with
his officials and them being here this evening. As well to legislative services
and the committee members. Thank you all so much.
The
Chair: — Thank you, Mr. Minister, officials,
committee members. That concludes our business for today. I would ask a member
to move a motion of adjournment. Mr.
Bradshaw has moved. All agreed?
Some Hon. Members: — Agreed.
The Chair: — Carried. The committee stands adjourned to the
call of the Chair. Thank you.
[The committee adjourned at 19:18.]
Published
under the authority of the Hon. Randy Weekes, Speaker
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