Bill 152 explained in plain English
Small Business Bill of Rights, 2011
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
This bill would enact the Small Business Bill of Rights, 2011, establishing specific rights for small businesses in Ontario and requiring government ministers to develop plans and report on reducing regulatory burdens.
Bill 152, also known as the Small Business Bill of Rights, 2011, proposes to establish a set of rights for small businesses in Ontario. It outlines specific rights related to operating in a free market, interacting with government officials, and participating in government processes. The bill also requires government ministers to create plans to reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses and to report annually on their efforts. The proposed legislation aims to promote a change in attitude towards business and business leaders by ensuring government accountability in its regulation of small businesses.
- Enacts the Small Business Bill of Rights, 2011.
- Establishes ten specific rights for small businesses in Ontario.
- Requires each minister of the Crown to publish a plan to implement these rights and reduce the burden of government regulation on small businesses within six months of the Act coming into force.
- Requires each minister of the Crown to prepare an annual report on regulations made, amended, or revoked, detailing the impact on small businesses and outlining plans for burden reduction in the following year.
- Requires ministers to table their annual reports before the Legislative Assembly or deposit them with the Clerk of the Assembly by March 31 of the following year.
- Small businesses in Ontario
- Government ministers of the Crown in Ontario
- Government officials and inspectors
- Ministries, municipalities, and other bodies empowered to create rules or regulations
- Small businesses have the right to operate with minimal regulation, be served promptly and courteously by government officials, have their needs considered in government decisions, expect competent inspectors and fair fees, be consulted before new regulations affecting them are made, operate on a level playing field with larger businesses for government contracts, a simple and fair tax system, access to a well-maintained education and infrastructure system, a secure and affordable energy supply, and equal treatment by government regardless of location.
- Ministers are obligated to publish plans to implement these rights and reduce regulatory burdens within six months of the Act coming into force.
- Ministers are obligated to prepare and table annual reports on regulatory activity and its impact on small businesses.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Ministers must publish their plans within six months after the Act comes into force.
- Annual reports commence at the end of the year in which the section comes into force.
- Annual reports must be tabled or deposited with the Clerk of the Assembly not later than March 31 of the following year.
- The bill states that small businesses have the right to a simple, fair and predictable tax system that keeps tax levels and the cost of preparing tax returns and other required forms to a minimum.
- The bill states that any fees charged by government inspectors will reflect only the cost of the inspection.
- The bill does not specify the exact nature or definition of 'small business' beyond its general context.
- The bill does not outline specific penalties for ministers or government bodies that fail to comply with the requirements to publish plans or table annual reports.
- The bill does not detail the process or criteria for determining 'as little regulation as is possible and necessary' for small businesses.
This is the new Act being created by the bill.
Source: Title of Bill 152
The bill establishes specific rights for small businesses regarding their interactions with government regulations and requires ministers to report on regulatory burden reduction efforts.
Source: Sections 1, 2, and 3
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced