Bill 31 explained in plain English
French Language Services Amendment Act, 2013
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
Bill 31 amends the French Language Services Act to require the French Language Services Commissioner to submit reports to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, rather than the Minister responsible for Francophone Affairs.
This bill, known as the French Language Services Amendment Act, 2013, changes who the French Language Services Commissioner reports to. Instead of reporting to the Minister responsible for Francophone Affairs, the Commissioner will report directly to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. The Commissioner can submit annual reports on their activities and special reports on any matter related to the Act that should not wait until the annual report. The Speaker is required to present these reports to the Legislative Assembly as soon as possible. The Commissioner also has the ability to publish these reports after they have been presented to the Assembly, unless the Speaker agrees to an earlier publication.
- Changes the reporting recipient for the French Language Services Commissioner from the Minister responsible for Francophone Affairs to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
- Specifies that the Commissioner must submit annual reports on their activities and special reports on urgent matters to the Speaker.
- Requires the Speaker to table these reports before the Legislative Assembly.
- Grants the Commissioner the ability to publish reports after they are tabled in the Assembly, with the possibility of earlier publication if the Speaker agrees.
- French Language Services Commissioner
- Minister responsible for Francophone Affairs
- Speaker of the Legislative Assembly
- Members of the Legislative Assembly
- Francophone residents of Ontario who use French language services
- The Commissioner has the obligation to prepare and submit annual reports on activities and special reports to the Speaker.
- The Speaker has the obligation to lay any report received from the Commissioner before the Legislative Assembly.
- The Commissioner has the right to publish reports after they have been laid before the Assembly, with the possibility of earlier publication if the Speaker agrees.
- This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The bill does not specify what constitutes an 'urgent matter' for a special report, other than it should not be deferred until the annual report.
- The timing for the Speaker to lay the report before the Assembly is described as 'as soon as reasonably possible', which allows for some discretion.
- The conditions under which the Speaker might consent to earlier publication of a report are not detailed.
This bill amends the French Language Services Act to change the reporting requirements for the French Language Services Commissioner.
Source: Preamble and Section 1 and 2
This section is repealed and replaced to stipulate that the French Language Services Commissioner must submit annual and special reports to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
Source: Section 1
This section is repealed and replaced to state that the Commissioner may publish reports after they have been laid before the Legislative Assembly, unless the Speaker consents to earlier publication.
Source: Section 2
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