Bill 7 explained in plain English
Better Business Climate Act, 2014
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
The Better Business Climate Act, 2014, enacts new legislation requiring annual reporting on reducing administrative burdens and enabling the creation of plans to support business clusters for economic growth.
The Better Business Climate Act, 2014, enacts two new laws: The Burden Reduction Reporting Act, 2014, and The Partnerships for Jobs and Growth Act, 2014. The first requires the Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure to publish an annual report on the Ontario government's actions to reduce administrative burdens, and its future goals for doing so. The second allows the same Minister to develop plans for creating and supporting 'clusters' – geographically concentrated groups of interconnected businesses and related entities – to promote economic growth. These plans must include objectives, outcomes, and performance measures, and are subject to review and public reporting. Both new acts came into force when the Better Business Climate Act, 2014, received Royal Assent.
- Enacts the Burden Reduction Reporting Act, 2014.
- Enacts the Partnerships for Jobs and Growth Act, 2014.
- Requires the Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure to publish an annual report on actions taken by the Government of Ontario to reduce burdens and on future burden reduction goals.
- Allows the Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure to prepare plans for the development of clusters.
- Requires plans for cluster development to include specific information such as objectives, intended outcomes, and performance measures.
- Requires the Minister to consult with interested parties when preparing cluster development plans.
- Requires the Minister to review cluster development plans every five years and report publicly on the results of the review, including whether the plan will be continued or revoked.
- Specifies when the new Acts come into force.
- The Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure
- The Government of Ontario
- Businesses and other entities involved in clusters
- The public (through access to reports and plans)
- The Minister's obligation to publish an annual report on burden reduction.
- The Minister's authority to create and manage plans for business clusters.
- The right of the public to access information through annual reports and cluster plan reviews.
- The obligation for the Minister to consult with interested parties regarding cluster plans.
- The Better Business Climate Act, 2014, received Royal Assent on December 11, 2014.
- The Burden Reduction Reporting Act, 2014, came into force on December 11, 2014.
- The Partnerships for Jobs and Growth Act, 2014, comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor.
- The annual burden reduction report must be made public on or before June 30 each year, or a prescribed date.
- Reviews of cluster development plans are required on or before the fifth anniversary of the plan's public release, and every five years thereafter if the plan is continued.
- The Partnerships for Jobs and Growth Act, 2014, comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation, meaning its effective date is not yet fixed.
- The specific details and content of the annual burden reduction report and cluster development plans may be further specified by regulations, which are not detailed in the bill text.
- The bill does not specify the exact timeline for the Minister to make decisions regarding ceasing preparation or revoking a cluster plan.
- The bill refers to 'regulations' that may prescribe further details for reporting and plan development, but these regulations are not included.
This Act requires the Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure to publish an annual report detailing the Ontario government's efforts to reduce administrative burdens and outlining future goals for burden reduction. The Minister may also make regulations related to the content and timing of this report.
Source: Schedule 1
This Act allows the Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure to create plans for the development of 'clusters' (geographic concentrations of businesses). These plans require consultation with stakeholders, must contain specific details about objectives and performance, and are subject to mandatory five-year reviews and public reporting. The Minister also has regulation-making powers related to these plans.
Source: Schedule 2
This Act is referenced in defining 'Minister' for both new Acts, indicating the Minister's portfolio can be assigned or transferred under this Act.
Source: Schedules 1 and 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.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill does not have a published recorded division in the current official sources, so representative-by-representative vote counts are not shown.
No published representative vote breakdown
The current official sources do not publish a recorded division breakdown for this bill, so there is no representative-by-representative table to show.
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