Bill 134 explained in plain English
Conservation Land Fairness Act, 2015
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 41st Parliament, 1st 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 amends the Assessment Act to exempt land with specific conservation easements or covenants from property tax, subject to regulatory requirements, to encourage land conservation.
Bill 134, the Conservation Land Fairness Act, 2015, aims to encourage private landowners in Ontario to protect natural areas by granting conservation easements or covenants. It seeks to achieve this by amending the Assessment Act to exempt land subject to certain conservation easements or covenants from property taxation, provided the land meets requirements set out in regulations. The Minister of Finance is empowered to establish these requirements.
- Amends the Assessment Act to create a property tax exemption for land that is subject to certain conservation easements or covenants.
- Specifies that the exemption applies if the land meets requirements prescribed by the Minister of Finance through regulations.
- Empowers the Minister of Finance to make regulations outlining the requirements for this tax exemption.
- States that the purpose of the Act is to encourage private landowners to grant easements or covenants to conservation bodies to help preserve 17 per cent of Ontario's territory.
- Names the bill the Conservation Land Fairness Act, 2015.
- Private landowners in Ontario who grant conservation easements or covenants.
- Municipalities responsible for property assessment and taxation.
- Conservation bodies that receive conservation easements or covenants.
- The Minister of Finance, who is given regulation-making power.
- Landowners have the potential right to a property tax exemption if their land meets specific criteria related to conservation easements or covenants.
- The Minister of Finance has the power to prescribe the requirements for this exemption.
- The Act comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor.
- The bill provides for a property tax exemption for certain lands, which could lead to reduced property tax revenue for municipalities.
- The specific requirements for a conservation easement or covenant to qualify for the tax exemption are not detailed in the bill but will be set out in regulations by the Minister of Finance.
- The exact date the Act comes into force is not specified and will be determined by proclamation.
This Act is amended to exempt land subject to specific conservation easements or covenants from property taxation, provided it meets prescribed requirements. It also grants the Minister of Finance the power to make regulations about these requirements.
Source: Section 2 and Section 3
Land subject to easements or covenants granted under or entered into under subsection 3 (2) of this Act can be eligible for the exemption under the Assessment Act.
Source: Section 2 (2)
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.
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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