Bill 158 explained in plain English
Million Jobs Act, 2014
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 40th 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
The Million Jobs Act, 2014, is an Ontario law that introduces various changes and new acts related to job creation, government spending, energy, taxation, business regulation, skilled trades, and immigration.
Bill 158, also known as the Million Jobs Act, 2014, is an Ontario law that enacts several schedules, each containing new or amended legislation. Key areas addressed include government spending control, affordable energy initiatives, tax reductions, regulatory reform, skilled trades training, workforce development, the abolition of the Ontario College of Trades, interprovincial trade agreements, and immigration targets. The Act received Royal Assent, meaning it is now law.
- Enacts the Getting Government Spending Under Control Act, 2014, which freezes public sector employee compensation for two years.
- Amends the Electricity Act, 1998, by repealing provisions related to the feed-in tariff program and imposing conditions on grid connections for renewable energy sources.
- Amends the Environmental Protection Act to give municipalities responsibility for issuing renewable energy approvals for large-scale wind or solar facilities.
- Enacts the Tax Cuts Create Jobs Act, 2014, which reduces the basic corporate tax rate in stages.
- Enacts the Supporting Business by Ending the Red Tape Runaround Act, 2014, requiring annual reviews of regulations and setting a target for reducing the size of the consolidated regulations database.
- Enacts the Strengthening Our Skilled Trades Act, 2014, to support and regulate skills acquisition through apprenticeship programs and formal certification.
- Enacts the Building the Best Workforce Act, 2014, which applies to specific construction trades and establishes rules for apprenticeship and certification.
- Enacts the Abolish the Ontario College of Trades Act, 2014, which repeals the Ontario College of Trades and Apprenticeship Act, 2009.
- Enacts the More Jobs Through Free Trade Act, 2014, requiring Ontario to initiate negotiations to join the New West Partnership with British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.
- Amends the Ministry of Citizenship and Culture Act to require the Minister to publish annual reports on Ontario's immigration selection targets.
- Public sector employees
- Corporations
- Municipalities
- Operators of renewable energy projects
- Individuals involved in trades and skilled occupations
- Businesses and individuals subject to government regulations
- Employers and employees in specific construction trades
- Government Ministers
- Potential immigrants to Ontario
- The Government of Ontario
- The Governments of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan
- Public sector employers must comply with the compensation freeze provisions.
- Individuals must adhere to apprenticeship and certification requirements under the new skilled trades legislation.
- Ministers are obligated to review regulations annually and face salary reductions for non-compliance.
- The Government of Ontario must initiate negotiations to join the New West Partnership.
- The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration must publish annual immigration target reports.
- The Act came into force on the day it received Royal Assent.
- The compensation freeze for public sector employees lasts for two years from the date the Act receives Royal Assent.
- The basic corporate tax rate is reduced on July 1, 2014, and again on July 1, 2015.
- Ministers must review regulations within one year of the Act coming into force and annually thereafter.
- The Government of Ontario must initiate negotiations to join the New West Partnership within one year of the Act coming into force.
- The Minister must prepare the first immigration targets report by February 1 of the year following Royal Assent.
- The basic corporate tax rate is reduced to 11 per cent on July 1, 2014, and to 10 per cent on July 1, 2015.
- Public sector employee compensation rates and certain benefits are frozen for two years.
- Ministers may face a 25 per cent reduction in salary if they fail to comply with regulatory review obligations.
- Compensation paid to public sector employees in contravention of the Act is a debt due to the employer and recoverable by law.
- Penalties for offences under the Strengthening Our Skilled Trades Act, 2014, include fines up to $25,000.
- Penalties for offences under the Building the Best Workforce Act, 2014, include fines up to $2,000.
- Ministers failing to comply with regulatory review obligations may face a 25 per cent reduction in their salary.
- The specific meaning of 'large-scale renewable energy source' is to be prescribed by regulations.
- The specific meaning of 'large-scale solar facility' and 'large-scale wind facility' are to be prescribed by regulations.
- The Act does not apply to trades covered by the Building the Best Workforce Act, 2014.
- The commencement date for certain provisions of the Strengthening Our Skilled Trades Act, 2014, and the Building the Best Workforce Act, 2014, is to be named by proclamation.
- The specific percentage reduction target for the consolidated regulations database under the Supporting Business by Ending the Red Tape Runaround Act, 2014, is not fully detailed and will be determined by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
- The specific percentages for annual reductions in the size of the regulations database are to be determined by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
- The Act states that the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing certain matters, indicating that details will be provided in future regulations.
- The specific details of what constitutes 'reasonable and adequate training' for trade schools are to be further defined by regulations.
Reduces the basic rate of tax payable by corporations to 11 per cent on July 1, 2014, and to 10 per cent on July 1, 2015.
Source: Section 29 (2) of the Act
Amends provisions related to the feed-in tariff program, requiring ministerial consultation with municipalities and authorization before connecting renewable energy sources to the grid if a contract exists but connection hasn't occurred.
Source: Section 25.32 (2) (b), 25.32 (6) (3), and 25.35 of the Act
Assigns municipalities the responsibility for issuing renewable energy approvals for large-scale wind or solar facilities, while the Director remains responsible for other renewable energy projects. Municipal decisions can be appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board.
Source: Part V.0.1 of the Act
Repeals subsection 4 (2) and subsection 4 (3) of Schedule G, under specific conditions related to commencement dates.
Source: Schedule 2, Section 9
Repeals this Act in its entirety.
Source: Schedule 7, Section 1
Requires the Minister to prepare and publish an annual report detailing Ontario's target levels for selecting foreign nationals under specific immigration programs.
Source: Section 12 of the Act
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