Bill 91 explained in plain English
Fairness in Petroleum Products Pricing Act, 2022
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd 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, the Fairness in Petroleum Products Pricing Act, 2022, would empower the Ontario Energy Board to regulate the retail price and wholesale mark-up of petroleum products in Ontario.
Bill 91, the Fairness in Petroleum Products Pricing Act, 2022, proposes to give the Ontario Energy Board the power to regulate the prices of gasoline and diesel fuel sold in Ontario. The goal is to protect consumers by ensuring predictable and consistent prices, preventing unfair pricing practices, and promoting transparency. The Act would allow the Board to set maximum retail prices and minimum mark-ups, and retailers would be prohibited from selling fuel above the maximum price.
- Empowers the Ontario Energy Board to set weekly maximum retail prices for petroleum products.
- Empowers the Ontario Energy Board to set weekly minimum mark-ups for petroleum products.
- Prohibits retailers from selling petroleum products at a price higher than the maximum retail price set by the Board.
- Prohibits wholesalers from selling petroleum products to retailers at a price that does not allow for the minimum mark-up set by the Board.
- Requires wholesalers and retailers to keep records of petroleum product sales for at least five years.
- Allows the Board to receive and investigate complaints related to petroleum product pricing.
- Declares that any contract term allowing a violation of the Act is invalid.
- Authorizes the Board to appoint inspectors to conduct inspections of wholesalers and retailers.
- Allows inspectors to enter business premises, examine records, and ask questions related to petroleum product sales.
- Allows the Board to impose administrative penalties on retailers or wholesalers who contravene the Act, with a maximum of $100,000 per day.
- Establishes an offence for selling petroleum products in contravention of the Act, with a potential fine of up to $500,000.
- States that each day a contravention continues can be considered a separate offence.
- Provides that paying an administrative penalty prevents a person from being charged with an offence for the same contravention.
- Consumers of petroleum products (gasoline, diesel, furnace oil, stove oil)
- Retailers of petroleum products
- Wholesalers of petroleum products
- The Ontario Energy Board
- The Lieutenant Governor in Council
- Inspectors appointed by the Ontario Energy Board
- Retailers have the right to sell petroleum products, but must not sell above the maximum retail price fixed by the Board.
- Wholesalers have the right to sell petroleum products to retailers, but must ensure the price allows for the minimum mark-up.
- Wholesalers and retailers have a duty to keep records of sales for at least five years.
- Wholesalers and retailers have a duty to provide reasonable assistance to inspectors.
- Individuals accused of contravening the Act may be subject to administrative penalties or criminal charges.
- Consumers have the right to expect predictable and consistent retail pricing of petroleum products.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Retailers may be subject to administrative penalties not exceeding $100,000 for each day of contravention.
- Wholesalers may be subject to administrative penalties not exceeding $100,000 for each day of contravention.
- Retailers or wholesalers found guilty of an offence could face fines up to $500,000.
- The monetary benefit gained from a contravention may be added to an administrative penalty.
- The Ontario Energy Board can impose administrative penalties of up to $100,000 per day for contraventions.
- Violating the pricing rules can result in a fine of up to $500,000.
- Each day a violation continues is considered a separate offence.
- The Act does not specify the exact process for how the Lieutenant Governor in Council will govern the Board's power to fix prices and mark-ups, beyond stating it will be 'in accordance with the regulations'.
- The specific circumstances under which a retailer or wholesaler might not have to pay an administrative penalty, or could pay a reduced penalty, will be detailed in future regulations.
- The exact procedures for administrative penalties, including reviews or hearings, will be set out in regulations.
- The Act does not define 'petroleum product' to include all possible fuels, only gasoline or diesel oil primarily used in internal combustion engines, and any furnace oil or stove oil that may be prescribed.
This Act establishes new rules for pricing petroleum products and creates new powers for the Ontario Energy Board.
Source: Section 13
Part III (Regulations) of the Legislation Act, 2006, which generally governs how regulations are made and published, will not apply to orders made by the Board under this Act.
Source: Section 10
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