This report considers the Arbitration Act, RSA 1980, c A-43, as it was current to the publication of the report. The report considers two principal difficulties users had with the Act: the fact that it left many practical problems unsolved; and the “unduly broad” scope for discretionary intervention by the courts, which would frustrate the desire of many arbitrating parties to avoid litigation.
The report presents a draft Act, patterned on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration published in 1985. This model was also employed by the Provincial government in 1986 as part of the International Commercial Arbitration Act, SA1986, c I-6.6. The report suggests that its use would have the advantage (beyond its advantages as a law) of improving harmony among the various pieces of provincial arbitration regulation.