Cutting Unnecessary Red Tape Act, 2017, S.O. 2017, c. 20 - Bill 154

• Jurisdiction: Ontario
• Date: 14 November 2017
• Bill Number: 154

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Explanatory Note was written as a reader’s aid to Bill 154 and does not form part of the law.
Bill 154 has been enacted as Chapter 20 of the Statutes of Ontario, 2017.

The Bill is part of a government initiative to cut unnecessary red tape.

The Bill amends or repeals a number of Acts and enacts a number of new Acts. For convenience, the amendments, repeals and new Acts are set out in separate Schedules. Schedules with the name of Ministries include amendments to and repeals of Acts that are administered by the Ministry involved or that affect that Ministry. The commencement provisions for each of the Schedules are set out in the Schedules.

SCHEDULE 1
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

Farming and Food Production Protection Act, 1998

The Schedule amends the Act to provide that more than one vice-chair of the Normal Farm Practices Protection Board may be designated from among the members of the Board.

SCHEDULE 2
Ministry of the Attorney GEneral

Charities Accounting Act

The Schedule amends the Act to add new sections 10.2 to 10.4, which provide authority for a trustee to whom the Act applies to apply or use the trust property to make social investments. Section 10.2 sets out the characteristics of a social investment and provides other interpretive guidance. Section 10.3 sets out the power to make social investments with trust property, but specifies that the power may be restricted or excluded by the terms of the trust. Section 10.4 places duties on trustees who make social investments with trust property, including a requirement to consider whether advice respecting the social investment should be sought and, if so, to obtain and consider the advice. Subsection 10.4 (5) provides that the duties set out in the section may not be restricted or excluded by the terms of the trust.

Section 10.1 of the Act is amended consequentially to take into account the new social investment provisions.

Courts of Justice Act

The Schedule amends section 47 of the Act to specify the application of the section to provincial judges appointed after having reached 65 years of age. In addition, a new complaints and discipline process respecting the Small Claims Court Administrative Judge is set out by way of amendments to section 87.2 and the addition of a new section 87.3.

Finally, the Schedule amends the Act to allow certain orders to pay tariff costs under the Agreement on Internal Trade, the Canadian Free Trade Agreement and other prescribed domestic trade agreements to be made orders of the Superior Court of Justice for the purpose of enforcement.

Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act, 2002

The Schedule makes various amendments to the Act. Some of the more significant amendments are set out below.

The concept of ordinary residence is replaced with habitual residence throughout the English version of the Act. The definition of “support order” is expanded to, in particular circumstances, include the calculation or recalculation by an administrative body of the payment of support for a child. A support order and a support variation order shall now specify the law applied in making the order or the order is deemed to have been made under Ontario law.

In determining a child’s entitlement to support under section 13, and in determining a child’s entitlement to receive or continue to receive support under section 35, the Ontario court now first applies Ontario law, but if the child is not entitled to support under Ontario law, the court applies the law of the jurisdiction in which the child is habitually resident. In determining the amount of support for a child under section 35, the Ontario court now applies Ontario law, rather than the law of the jurisdiction where the person liable to pay the support resides.

The rules for varying a support order in section 39 of the Act now apply to all support orders made or registered in Ontario under the Act, rather than only those registered in Ontario under Part III.

International Interests in Mobile Equipment Act (Aircraft Equipment), 2002

The Schedule amends the French version of Schedule 1 to the Act to update the language of the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment to adhere to the official French version of the Convention. The Schedule also amends the French version of the title of the annex in Schedule 2 to the Act to note that it is the annex referred to in Article XIII of the Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment in Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment.

Juries Act

The Schedule amends the Act to reflect the fact that the jury service notice and return to jury service notice forms have been amalgamated into a single jury questionnaire form that is received by, and is required to be returned to a sheriff, completed, by potential jurors. Subsection 6 (5) of the Act is re-enacted to permit the completed jury questionnaire to be returned to the sheriff by an electronic method specified in the questionnaire, if any, as well as to extend the deadline for returning the questionnaire from five to 30 days.

In addition, section 19 of the Act is amended to permit a sheriff to provide summons to a juror in electronic format, if the juror consents. Section 27 of the Act is amended to replace a graphic representation of the requisite card with a textual description of the requirements.

Finally, housekeeping amendments are made:

1. The French translation of “correctional institution” in paragraph 6 of subsection 3 (1) of the Act is updated.

2. The reference in subsection 6 (1) of the Act to “first class” mail is removed.

Justices of the Peace Act

The Schedule amends section 6 of the Act to specify the application of the section to justices of the peace appointed after having reached 65 years of age. In addition, section 13.1 of the Act is amended to create authority for the Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice to delegate his or her powers under that section.

Notaries Act

The Schedule amends the Act to remove the requirement for a notary public to be a Canadian citizen.

Provincial Offences Act

The Schedule amends the Act to allow the Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice to delegate his or her authority to determine that a presiding justice is unable to continue a trial.

Schedule 3
Repeal of the employers and employees act

Employers and Employees Act

The Schedule repeals the Act and makes consequential amendments to two other Acts to reflect the repeal.

SCHEDULE 4
Reducing Regulatory Costs for Business Act, 2017

Reducing Regulatory Costs for Business Act, 2017

The Schedule enacts a new Act which provides various measures in the interest of reducing regulatory costs for business.

When a regulation governed by the Act is made or approved and has the effect of creating or increasing administrative costs to business, an offset must be made within a prescribed time.

An analysis that assesses the potential impact of what is proposed must be conducted where regulations governed by the Act are made or approved, and the analysis must be published. Less onerous regulatory requirements for small businesses are to be implemented where appropriate.

Where appropriate, recognized standards are to be adopted when developing or amending regulations.

Businesses required to provide documents to ministries as a result of a regulation will have the option to transmit those documents electronically.

Businesses that demonstrate excellent compliance with regulatory requirements are to be recognized by the Government.

SCHEDULE 5
Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change

Environmental Protection Act

The Schedule replaces the definitions of “Minister” and “Ministry” in the Act.

Pesticides Act

The Schedule makes various amendments to the Act. Some of the more significant amendments are set out below.

The Schedule replaces the definitions of “Minister” and “Ministry” in the Act and adds a definition of “public servant”. The six-month limit on how long a person shall serve as an assistant to the holder of a licence to perform structural exterminations is repealed, as is the seven-day limit on how long a person shall serve as an assistant to the holder of a licence to perform land exterminations or water exterminations.

The Schedule changes the conditions that must be met before the Director may refuse to issue or renew a licence under section 11 of the Act. The Schedule expands the list of reasons set out in subsection 11 (3) of the Act for which the Director may refuse to issue a permit, cancel a permit, impose terms and conditions on a permit or alter the terms and conditions of a permit. The notice requirement set out in subsection 13 (8) of the Act now also applies when the Director issues a permit subject to a term or condition.

Where the Director refuses to issue or cancels a permit or imposes or alters a term or condition in a permit that has been issued, the permittee now has seven days to make submissions for reconsideration, rather than fifteen. The Director now has seven days to reconsider the decision after receiving the submissions, rather than three.

In a designation of a provincial officer under section 17 of the Act, the Minister may now limit the authority of the officer in the manner that the Minister considers necessary or advisable.

SCHEDULE 6
Ministry of GOVERNMENT AND CONSUMER SERVICES — CORPORATE AMENDMENTS

Similar Amendments to various Corporate Acts

The Schedule makes amendments of an administrative nature to the following Acts to ensure consistent wording: the Business Corporations Act, the Business Names Act, the Corporations Information Act, the Extra-Provincial Corporations Act and the Limited Partnerships Act.

The definition of Minister does not name a specific Minister, but refers to the minister who is made responsible for the administration of the Act under the Executive Council Act.

The Schedule makes changes...