Bill 11 explained in plain English
Attracting Investment and Creating Jobs Act, 2012
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 40th 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 Ontario Act establishes and continues regional development funds for Eastern and Southwestern Ontario to promote economic growth through financial assistance and incentives.
The Attracting Investment and Creating Jobs Act, 2012, establishes and continues two regional development funds: the Eastern Ontario Development Fund and the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund. These funds aim to promote economic development in these regions by providing financial assistance and incentives. The Act also establishes corporations to administer these funds, outlines their powers and responsibilities, sets up accountability mechanisms, and requires reviews of the programs' effectiveness.
- Continues the Eastern Ontario Development Fund and establishes and continues the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund as regional development programs.
- States that the purpose of these programs is to provide financial assistance and incentives to promote regional economic development in eastern and southwestern Ontario, thereby enhancing Ontario's economic competitiveness and labour force opportunities.
- Requires that if a public announcement is made about financial assistance or incentives, the local MPP must be given the opportunity to participate.
- Establishes two corporations, one for each fund, to administer the programs.
- Each corporation's board of directors will include the Minister and at least seven other appointed members, with a residency requirement for members other than the Minister.
- Empowers each corporation to determine who receives financial assistance and incentives, and in what amounts, and to provide this assistance as grants or loans.
- Requires each corporation's board of directors to establish a local advisory committee that reflects regional interests.
- Requires each corporation to provide an annual report to the Minister, including audited financial statements.
- Requires the Minister to make guidelines for each program publicly available, outlining performance standards for job creation and other economic development targets.
- Requires recipients of financial assistance to enter into an agreement with the Minister detailing performance standards and accountability measures, which must include provisions for repayment if standards are not met.
- Requires these agreements to be available for public inspection, with commercially-sensitive information allowed to be redacted.
- Mandates an initial review of the programs by the Minister one year after the section establishing the funds comes into force, considering factors like geographic areas, types of assistance, and accountability measures.
- Mandates a further review of the programs' effectiveness by the fifth anniversary of the section establishing the funds coming into force.
- The Minister of Economic Development and Innovation.
- Residents and businesses in eastern Ontario and southwestern Ontario who may receive financial assistance or incentives.
- Members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario (MPPs), particularly those representing affected areas.
- Corporations established to administer the development funds.
- Members of local advisory committees.
- The public, who can inspect program agreements.
- The Minister has the duty to continue and establish the development funds and to make program guidelines publicly available.
- Recipients of funding have the right to receive financial assistance and incentives.
- Recipients of funding have the obligation to enter into agreements and meet performance standards.
- MPPs representing affected areas have the right to be offered an opportunity to participate in public announcements regarding financial assistance or incentives.
- The corporations have the duty to administer the programs, establish advisory committees, and provide annual reports.
- The Act came into force on September 11, 2012 (Royal Assent).
- Section 2 (which establishes the funds) comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation.
- An initial review of the programs is to be conducted by the Minister one year after section 2 comes into force.
- A further review of the programs' effectiveness is to be conducted by the Minister by the fifth anniversary of the date section 2 comes into force.
- The programs provide financial assistance and incentives through grants or loans.
- Money required for the programs will be paid out of funds appropriated for the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation by the Legislature.
- Agreements for financial assistance may include repayment obligations (clawbacks) if performance standards are not met.
- If performance standards are not satisfied, agreements for financial assistance or incentives must provide for the repayment of the funds or incentives to the applicable Fund.
- The specific day section 2 of the Act comes into force is not detailed, as it is subject to proclamation by the Lieutenant Governor.
- The exact composition of the local advisory committees is not specified beyond reflecting sectoral and sub-regional interests.
- While the Act requires reviews, the outcomes or specific actions following these reviews are not dictated.
- Commercially-sensitive information may be redacted from public agreements, limiting full transparency in those specific instances.
This Act gives the Minister of Economic Development and Innovation the power to continue the Eastern Ontario Development Fund and to establish and continue the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund. The Minister retains existing powers and duties under this Act, subject to the new Act.
Source: Section 2 (a) and Section 8
This program is continued under the new Act to promote regional economic development in eastern Ontario.
Source: Section 2 (a)
This program is established and continued under the new Act to promote regional economic development in southwestern Ontario.
Source: Section 2 (b)
This is the primary Act that creates the framework for the development funds, corporations, and review processes.
Source: Title and Explanatory Note
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