Bill 260 explained in plain English
Stopping Harassment and Abuse by Local Leaders Act, 2021
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd 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 Stopping Harassment and Abuse by Local Leaders Act, 2021, requires municipal codes of conduct to include compliance with workplace violence and harassment policies and allows for the vacating of a member's seat if these policies are contravened.
This bill amends the Municipal Act, 2001, and the City of Toronto Act, 2006. It requires codes of conduct for municipal councillors and members of local boards to include a requirement that these members comply with workplace violence and harassment policies. If a member contravenes their code of conduct by failing to comply with these policies, the municipality or local board may direct the Integrity Commissioner to apply to a judge of the Superior Court of Justice to have the member's seat declared vacant. This application cannot be made during the period of a regular election, starting from nomination day and ending on voting day.
- Requires codes of conduct for municipal councillors and local board members to include a requirement to comply with workplace violence and harassment policies.
- Allows municipalities and local boards to direct their Integrity Commissioner to apply to the Superior Court of Justice to have a member's seat declared vacant if they contravene their code of conduct by failing to comply with workplace violence or harassment policies.
- Prohibits applications to vacate a member's seat during the period of a regular election, from nomination day to voting day.
- Municipal councillors
- Members of local boards
- Municipalities
- Local boards
- The City of Toronto
- The Integrity Commissioner (in municipalities and the City of Toronto)
- Municipal councillors and local board members have an obligation to comply with workplace violence and harassment policies.
- Municipalities and local boards have the ability to direct their Integrity Commissioner to apply to court to vacate a member's seat for contravening the code of conduct by failing to comply with these policies.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- If a judge determines a member has contravened their code of conduct by failing to comply with workplace violence or harassment policies, the judge may declare the member's seat vacant.
- The bill does not specify what constitutes 'workplace violence or harassment policies' beyond referencing the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
- The bill does not specify any penalties other than the potential vacating of a member's seat.
- The exact process and criteria for the Integrity Commissioner's inquiry before directing an application to vacate a seat are not detailed in this bill.
Adds a requirement that codes of conduct for municipal council members and local board members must include compliance with workplace violence and harassment policies established under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. It also allows for the vacating of a member's seat if they contravene the code of conduct by failing to comply with these policies, and establishes the procedure for such an application.
Source: Section 223.2, 223.4, and adds Section 223.4.0.1
Adds a requirement that the code of conduct for Toronto city council members and local board members must include compliance with workplace violence and harassment policies established under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. It also allows for the vacating of a member's seat if they contravene the code of conduct by failing to comply with these policies, and establishes the procedure for such an application.
Source: Section 157, 160, and adds Section 160.0.1
This Act is referenced as the basis for the workplace violence and harassment policies that municipal codes of conduct must now include compliance with.
Source: Section 32.0.1
This Act is referenced to define the period of a regular election (nomination day to voting day) during which applications to vacate a member's seat cannot be made.
Source: Section 31 and Section 5
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