Bill 122 explained in plain English
Ontario Consumer Watchdog Act, 2023
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 43rd 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
Bill 122 requires Ontario's Minister to develop and implement a plan to establish an independent consumer watchdog organization to oversee consumer protection matters in the province.
Bill 122, the Ontario Consumer Watchdog Act, 2023, directs the Ontario government to create a plan for establishing a new, independent organization dedicated to protecting consumers. The bill does not create the organization itself, but rather requires the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery to work with stakeholders and the public to develop and carry out a plan to set it up. According to the bill, the consumer watchdog organization would be responsible for overseeing consumer protection in Ontario. The plan must describe what steps the government will take to establish the organization, what powers and duties it would have, and how it would work with other regulatory bodies. The proposed organization's duties would include investigating whether businesses follow consumer protection laws, looking into consumer complaints, publishing reports on consumer protection matters, educating the public about their consumer rights, and recommending whether existing laws need updating or better enforcement. The plan could also include giving the organization power to override decisions made by other regulatory bodies in certain sectors or for certain types of businesses. The Minister must publish the plan on a Government of Ontario website and provide a progress report to the Legislative Assembly within six months of developing the plan. The bill came into force immediately upon receiving Royal Assent.
- Requires the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery to develop and implement a plan to establish an independent consumer watchdog organization
- Specifies that the organization must be independent of government and responsible for overseeing consumer protection matters in Ontario
- Requires the plan to include the steps needed to establish the organization
- Requires the plan to outline the powers and duties of the organization, including investigating businesses and consumer complaints, administering penalties and remedies, publishing reports, and educating the public
- Requires the plan to address the role of the organization in relation to other regulatory bodies, potentially allowing its decisions to prevail over other bodies in specified sectors
- Requires the Minister to publish the plan on a Government of Ontario website
- Requires the Minister to prepare a progress report within six months and table it in the Legislative Assembly
- Specifies that consultation with relevant stakeholders and the public is required in developing the plan
- Ontario consumers - who would benefit from the proposed consumer watchdog organization's oversight and protection
- Ontario businesses and other entities - which would be subject to investigation and oversight by the proposed organization
- The Ontario government - specifically the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery, who must develop and implement the plan
- The Legislative Assembly - which must receive and review the progress report
- Other regulatory bodies in Ontario - which would need to coordinate with the proposed organization and may be subject to its decisions in certain sectors
- Consumer protection stakeholders - who must be consulted in developing the plan
- The Minister must develop and implement a plan to establish an independent consumer watchdog organization
- The Minister must consult with relevant stakeholders and the public when developing the plan
- The Minister must include in the plan the steps needed to establish the organization
- The Minister must include in the plan the proposed powers and duties of the organization
- The Minister must include in the plan details about the organization's role in relation to other regulatory bodies
- The Minister must publish the plan on a Government of Ontario website
- The Minister must prepare a progress report on the plan within six months and table it in the Legislative Assembly
- The proposed organization would have the power to investigate businesses, consumer complaints, administer penalties, and publish reports on consumer protection matters
- Bill 122 came into force on the day it received Royal Assent (the exact date of Royal Assent is not specified in the provided text)
- The Minister must prepare a progress report within six months after the plan to establish the consumer watchdog organization is developed
- The bill does not specify funding amounts for establishing the consumer watchdog organization or for its ongoing operations
- The bill does not specify penalties or enforcement mechanisms for non-compliance with the requirement to develop and implement the plan
- The bill does not specify when the plan must be developed or completed
- The bill does not specify the exact date of Royal Assent, only that it came into force on that date
- The bill does not specify what funding will be allocated to establish the consumer watchdog organization
- The bill does not specify the structure, governance, or staffing of the proposed organization - these details are to be included in the plan to be developed
- The bill does not specify which regulatory bodies would be affected or which sectors might see the organization's decisions prevail
- The bill does not detail how the organization would be 'independent of government' while being established by the government
- The bill does not specify enforcement mechanisms if the Minister fails to develop and publish the plan or fails to report progress
The plan for the consumer watchdog organization may propose that it assume certain powers or duties currently under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002
Source: Section 3(2)(x)
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