Ontario.

• Author: Koch, Katch
• Position: ASSEMBLEE NATIONALE

During the Summer adjournment, Gregory Sorbara, a long serving member of the Peterson and McGuinty cabinets, resigned as the Member of Provincial Parliament for Vaughan. His resignation, effective August 1, 2012, coupled with the earlier resignation of Elizabeth Witmer as the Member for Kitchener-Waterloo, left the Legislative Assembly with two vacancies. In by-elections held on September 6, 2012, Steven Del Duca (Liberal) was returned as the Member for Vaughan and Catherine Fife (NDP) was returned as the Member for Kitchener-Waterloo. The resulting composition of the 107 seat minority legislature is now 53 Liberals, 36 Progressive Conservatives and 18 New Democrats.

Recall of the House

On August 21, 2012 the government advised the Speaker that it was in the public interest to reconvene the House earlier than the September 10, 2012 start date for the Fall meeting period. Accordingly, the Spring meeting period was extended and resumed on August 27, 2012 to allow for the introduction of Bill 115, An Act to implement restraint measures in the education sector. The Act established a restraint period of two years for the compensation of workers in the education sector and set out requirements for terms that must be included in employment contracts and collective agreements that apply during the restraint period. The Act also amended the Education Act to provide for regulations that establish and govern existing and new systems of sick leave credits/ gratuities and provided for their termination.

After three days of debate, Bill 115 was time-allocated and referred to the Standing Committee on Social Policy for consideration. The time-allocation motion contained a provision that in the event the committee failed to report the Bill by September 10, 2012, the Bill was deemed to be passed by the Committee and was deemed to be reported to and received by the House. This provision proved to be significant because the motion striking the membership for all legislative committees following the last general election included a termination date of September 9, 2012. Although the Committee had concluded clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill and had ordered the Chair to report the Bill, as amended, to the House, the Standing Committee on Social Policy no longer had a Chair or Members by the next opportunity to report the Bill. The Bill was therefore deemed reported as amended. It received Third Reading and Royal Assent on September 11, 2012. A number of...