Comparative legislative process

Recently-minted Minister Harry Harding has a great, if unoriginal, idea:

An amendment to the Consumer Protection and Business Practices Act will remove expiration dates and fees for gift cards. The Department of Government Services has put forward Bill 40 which ensures consumers know the exact rules and limitations when purchasing gift cards.

"Many consumers prefer to give gift cards because of their ease and convenience," said the Honourable Harry Harding, Minister of Government Services. "For this reason, it is important that consumers know exactly what they are purchasing and that they do not feel constrained to use them within a certain period because of time limitations."

Unoriginal, because Newfoundland and Labrador is the last of the ten provinces to bring in such legislation. The first was Ontario, in 2007.

Which, by happy coincidence, was also the year in which Manitoba’s provincial whistleblower legislation came into force.

Which makes it all the more curious that sad-sack Justice Minister Felix Collins continues to polish the turd that is former Premier Danny Williams’ long-since shattered promise to bring in provincial whistleblower legislation. The latest excuse?

"The provinces that have it are undergoing the regular growing pains of new legislation. We are monitoring that to see what best practices come out of it. So when we produce our legislation it will be the best piece of legislation that we can possible come up with."

Why the casual wait-and-see attitude on whistleblower protection legislation, which has existed in Canada for just as long as gift-card protection legislation?