Provincial government goes back to work: Legislation to Watch

NRU
June 18, 2014
By Leah Wong

With the provincial throne speech scheduled for July 2, Premier Kathleen Wynne’s newly mandated government is ready to get to work.

In a June 17 speech to the new Liberal caucus, Wynne said the MPPs are being vetted for cabinet positions so that government will resume shortly.

She has also said that the budget will be tabled soon after the throne speech.

When the government was dissolved May 2, there were a number of bills that died on the order paper.
While some of these bills were tabled by members who are no longer in office, there are several that may be brought back to the table when the government resumes its work.

One bill that was specifically mentioned in the preelection budget was Liberal infrastructure minister Glen Murray’s proposed Infrastructure for Jobs and Prosperity Act, which sets principles and criteria for infrastructure planning and prioritization. Bill 141 had been referred to the Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills before the writ was dropped.

Infrastructure will be a major part of Wynne’s plan to move Ontario forward. By voting the Liberals back into government, Wynne said the people of Ontario were asking them to “invest in their transit, in their roads, in their bridges and their highway,” in her caucus speech. The pre-election budget included plans for $130-billion investment in infrastructure over the next 10 years.

The pre-election budget outlined dedicated funds for public transit and transportation infrastructure - with specific allocations within and outside the GTHA. It also specifically detailed major investments to be made in transit and highways including new high-occupancy vehicle lanes and the east phase 2 of Highway 407 in southern Ontario.

Another Liberal member bill that had made it to a standing committee was Mitzie Hunter’s bill 166 on the ranked ballot initiative. The Liberal election platform said the party would give municipalities the option to use ranked ballots instead of first-past-the-post, if it formed the next government.

Liberal member Helena Jaczek’s bill 16, which would change the Municipal Act to make the York regional chair an elected position, also died in standing committee.

A number of PC and NDP member bills also were lost when the government was dissolved. With the Liberal majority and a number of the sponsor members defeated during the election, it is uncertain if these items will make it back onto the legislative agenda.

PC member Victor Fedeli’s bill to amend the Building Code Act to allow wood construction for six-storey buildings died in the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs.

As did PC member Gila Martow’s bill to create an advisory committee to analyze highway incident management, which was before the Standing Committee on Social Policy when the writ was dropped. Both Fedeli and Martow were re-elected.

A number of bills from NDP members had received first reading before the election. These include Cheri DiNovo’s Planning Act amendment to require municipalities to include affordable housing units in all new residential developments, Michael Prue’s bill to extend timelines under the Planning Act and Rosario Marchese’s bill to amend the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act. DiNovo was the only one of the three NDP members to be re-elected.