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Bill 96, Democratic Participation Act, 2019

Lalonde, Marie-France

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Status

Debates

Acts affected

Original

Bill 96 Original (PDF)

EXPLANATORY

NOTE

The

Bill amends the Education Act , the Election Act , the Municipal

Elections Act, 1996 and the Taxation Act, 2007 .

Education

Act

becomes a purpose of the Education Act to provide

students with non-partisan education about democracy and the importance of

democratic participation. The Bill provides for specific curriculum

requirements.

Election

Act

number of requirements in the Election Act to use

paper forms of public communication are replaced with requirements to use

appropriate forms of public communication. The voting age is amended to age 16,

effective January 1, 2022. Provision is made to establish the Chief Electoral

Officer as a single address authority for Ontario. The Chief Electoral Officer

is required to study and make a public report on the feasibility and impact of

making election day a provincial holiday, of conducting voting by mail, of

limiting the publication of polls in certain ways, and of mandatory voting. A

pilot project is established to use ranked ballots in certain by-elections and

electoral districts.

Municipal

Elections Act, 1996

The

Municipal Elections Act, 1996 is amended to permit municipalities

to amend the voting age in the municipality to 16, effective January 1, 2022.

Taxation

Act, 2007

The

Taxation Act, 2007 is amended to require the Minister

of Finance to provide taxpayers with a fair and non-partisan outline of how

public money was spent and of what benefits they received. The accuracy of

these statements are to be certified by the Deputy Minister of Finance, the

Financial Accountability Officer and the Chief Justice of Ontario.

Bill 96 2019

Act to amend various Acts in respect of democratic participation

Preamble

Strong

democratic institutions and robust and informed democratic participation are

hallmarks of successful societies. Democracy is one of Ontario’s core and

defining values.

Therefore,

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of

the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Education

Act

Section 0.1 of the Education Act is amended by

adding the following subsection:

Education

about democracy and democratic participation

(4) It

is a purpose of this Act to provide students with non-partisan education about

democracy and the importance of democratic participation.

Section 8 of the Act is amended by adding the following subsection:

Preparing

students to exercise their right to vote

(2) The

curriculum guidelines and courses of study issued and required by the Minister

shall require educating students to be prepared to exercise their right to vote

by the time they are 16, including by requiring,

(

a) mock

elections at an appropriate age whenever there is a general federal or

provincial election, including the use of non-partisan materials jointly

prepared by the Chief Electoral Officer and the Minister with respect to the

platforms of all parties that achieved at least 10 per cent of the vote in the

previous election; and

(

b) education

on democratic citizenship in each grade.

Election

Act

(1) Subsection 11 (2) of the Election Act

is repealed.

(2) Section

11 of the Act is amended by adding the following subsection:

Communication

to the public

(4) The

Chief Electoral Officer shall take such steps as the Chief Electoral Officer

considers appropriate to communicate the information in the notice to the

residents of the electoral district.

Clause 15 (1) (

a) of the Act is amended by striking out “eighteen” and

substituting “sixteen”.

The Act is amended by adding the following section:

Single

Address Authority

Single

address authority

(1) The

Chief Electoral Officer shall be the single address authority for Ontario.

Co-operation

of municipalities

(2) A

municipality shall co-operate with the Chief Electoral Officer to establish and

maintain the single address authority system in accordance with the regulations

made under subsection (3).

Regulations

(3) Subject

to the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, the Chief Electoral

Officer may make regulations governing the single address authority system.

(1) Subsection 29 (2) of the Act is amended by striking out “and the

notice shall be posted in conspicuous public places in the electoral district”.

(2) Section

29 of the Act is amended by adding the following subsection:

Communication

to the public

(3) The

Chief Electoral Officer shall take such steps as the Chief Electoral Officer

considers appropriate to communicate the information in the notice to the

residents of the electoral district.

Subsection 44 (7) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Notice

of polls

(7) At

least three days before the first advance poll day, the Chief Electoral Officer

or the returning officer shall,

(

a) cause

one or more notices of the days, times and locations of the advance polls to be

published on a website on the Internet; and

(

b) take

such steps as the Chief Electoral Officer or the returning officer, as the case

may be, considers appropriate to communicate the information in the notices to

the residents of the electoral district.

The Act is amended by adding the following section:

Report

on certain democratic reforms

114.2.1

(1) The Chief

Electoral Officer shall study and make a public report on the following

matters:

1. The

feasibility, likely impact and potential costs to business and savings to the

electoral system of making election day a provincial holiday.

2. The

feasibility and likely impact of shifting Ontario voting to be conducted solely

by mail.

3. The

feasibility and likely impact of the following:

i. Limiting

the publication of polls during the writ period to only pollsters accredited by

Elections Ontario, based on criteria developed by the Chief Electoral Officer.

ii. Limiting

the publication of polls during the writ period to polls with respect to issues

rather than with respect to voting intentions.

4. The

feasibility and likely impact of putting in place mandatory voting.

Request

for feedback

(2) For

the purpose of carrying out the duties under subsection (1), with respect to

the first two general elections that commence following the day this subsection

came into force, the Chief Electoral Officer shall make best efforts to provide

to each voter who did not vote a notice,

(

a) informing

the voter that the records of Elections Ontario indicate that the voter did not

vote;

(

b) informing

the voter that the Chief Electoral Officer is studying the issue of mandatory

voting; and

(

c) requesting

that the voter provide feedback, in a manner determined by the Chief Electoral

Officer, regarding a shift to mandatory voting and regarding the reasons they

did not participate in the vote.

Repeal

(3) This

section is repealed 12 years after the day

section 8 of the Democratic Participation Act, 2019 comes into force.

The Act is amended by adding the following section:

Ranked

Ballot Pilot Project

Ranked

ballot pilot project

Application

(1) This

section applies to,

(

a) by-elections

that commence during the period that begins on the day this

section comes into

force and ends on the day of the first general election after the day this

section came into force; and

(

b) the

election in the ten electoral districts in which, in the general election

immediately preceding the day this

section came into force, the candidates

elected were elected with the lowest percentages of votes cast of all the

candidates elected in that election.

Ranked

ballot elections

(2) The

elections that this

section applies to shall be conducted as ranked ballot

elections in accordance with

section 41.1 of the Municipal

Elections Act, 1996 and the regulations made under that section, with the

returning officer performing the functions of the clerk and with necessary

modifications and any prescribed modifications.

Repeal

(3) This

section is repealed five years after the day

section 9 of the Democratic Participation Act, 2019 comes into force.

Municipal

Elections Act, 1996

(1) Clause 17 (2) (

c) of the Municipal

Elections Act, 1996 is revoked and the following substituted:

(

c) is

at least the voting age in that municipality under subsection (2.1);

(2) Section

17 of the Act is amended by adding the following subsections:

Voting

age in municipality

(2.1) The

voting age in a municipality is 18 unless the municipality, by by-law, provides

that the voting age in the municipality is 16.

Transition

(2.2) A

by-law made under subsection (2.1) shall not come into force earlier than

January 1, 2022.

Taxation

Act, 2007

The Taxation Act, 2007 is amended by adding the

following section:

Statement

of Spending and Benefits

Statement

of spending and benefits

114.1

(1) The Minister

of Finance shall provide to each individual who filed a taxpayer’s return a

statement that includes,

(

a) a

fair and non-partisan outline of where public money was spent, including debt

maintenance, in each of the previous four fiscal years; and

(

b) an

outline of provincial tax benefits, rebates or other benefits which the

individual received in the taxation year to which the return relates.

Oversight

(2) The

Deputy Minister of Finance, the Financial Accountability Officer and the Chief

Justice of Ontario shall certify on the statement or in a document accompanying

the statement,

(

a) the

compliance of the statement with clauses (1) (

a) and (b); and

(

b) the

accuracy of the statement.

Commencement

and

Short Title

Commencement

(1) Subject to subsection (2), this Act comes into force on the day

it receives Royal Assent.

(2) Section

4 comes into force on January 1, 2022.

Short

title

The

short title of this Act is the Democratic Participation

Act, 2019 .

Date Bill stage Event Outcome Committee

May 2, 2019

Second Reading

Vote

Lost

May 2, 2019

Second Reading

Debated

April 3, 2019

First Reading

Vote

Carried

Debates and Progress

First Reading

April 3, 2019

Committee

Second Reading

May 2, 2019

Mrs. Marie-France Lalonde, Mr. Rudy Cuzzetto, Mr. Faisal Hassan, Mrs. Gila Martow, Ms. Marit Stiles, Ms. Mitzie Hunter, Mr. Jeff Burch

May 2, 2019

Declared lost.

Committee

Third Reading

Royal Assent

Acts affected - Bill 96

Most Ontario public acts are available electronically; to view copies of the Acts to be amended by this bill visit e-laws

Education Act

Election Act

Municipal Elections Act, 1996

Taxation Act, 2007

Legislative Assembly of Ontario

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