Bill 66 explained in plain English
Unlawfully Possessed Handguns in Vehicles 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 66 creates new laws and amends existing ones in Ontario to prohibit driving with an unlawfully possessed handgun in a vehicle on a highway, establishing penalties, licence suspensions, vehicle impoundment, and potential forfeiture.
This bill, titled the Unlawfully Possessed Handguns in Vehicles Act, 2013, aims to increase public safety and reduce crime by prohibiting the driving of a vehicle that contains an unlawfully possessed handgun on a highway in Ontario. It establishes new offences, penalties, and procedures related to this prohibition. The bill also amends existing legislation to support these new provisions.
- It creates a new offence for driving a motor vehicle on a highway if it contains an unlawfully possessed handgun.
- It sets out penalties for this offence, including fines, imprisonment, and driver's licence suspensions.
- It introduces immediate administrative measures for police officers, including the surrender of a driver's licence and detention of the vehicle.
- It mandates a seven-day suspension of the driver's licence and a seven-day impoundment of the vehicle.
- It allows for the forfeiture of a vehicle involved in this type of offence.
- It amends the Highway Traffic Act and the Civil Remedies Act, 2001 to implement these changes.
- It defines 'handgun' and 'unlawfully possessed handgun' for the purposes of the Act.
- Drivers in Ontario who are found to be in possession of an unlawfully possessed handgun while driving a vehicle on a highway.
- Owners of vehicles used in such contraventions.
- Police officers in Ontario.
- The Ministry of Transportation (Ontario) regarding driver's licences.
- The court system.
- The Attorney General of Ontario.
- Drivers have the obligation not to drive a vehicle on a highway with an unlawfully possessed handgun.
- Drivers have the obligation to surrender their driver's licence when requested by police under specific circumstances.
- Drivers are subject to licence suspension and vehicle impoundment.
- Police officers have the right and duty to request licence surrender and detain vehicles if they believe an offence has occurred.
- Vehicle owners have the right to recover their vehicle after impoundment, subject to paying costs, and may have the right to sue the driver for losses.
- The Crown (Ontario) may have the right to forfeit vehicles involved in these offences.
- The Act comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor.
- Fines for the offence range from a minimum of $2,000 to a maximum of $10,000.
- Fines for obstructing police range from $200 to $5,000.
- Vehicle owners will incur costs for removal and impoundment, which must be paid before the vehicle is released.
- Vehicle owners may recover costs from the driver.
- Potential financial impact from vehicle forfeiture.
- Offence: Driving a motor vehicle on a highway with an unlawfully possessed handgun.
- Penalties: Fine ($2,000-$10,000) or imprisonment (up to 6 months) or both.
- Licence Suspension: 1 year (1st conviction), 5 years (2nd conviction), indefinite (3rd conviction).
- Immediate police actions: Licence surrender request, vehicle detention.
- Administrative Licence Suspension: 7 days.
- Administrative Vehicle Impoundment: 7 days.
- Penalty for obstructing police: Fine ($200-$5,000) or imprisonment (up to 6 months) or both.
- Potential vehicle forfeiture under the Civil Remedies Act, 2001.
- The specific date the Act comes into force is not yet determined, as it depends on proclamation by the Lieutenant Governor.
- The exact implementation details for record-keeping and reporting by police, and potential exemptions, may be subject to future regulations.
- The determination of whether a conviction is 'subsequent' for licence suspension purposes is based solely on the sequence of convictions, not the timing of the offences.
This bill adds a new section (172.2) that makes it an offence to drive a vehicle with an unlawfully possessed handgun. It also makes various other amendments to existing sections to ensure administrative licence suspensions and vehicle impoundments related to this new offence are handled correctly, including making them run concurrently with other administrative impoundments.
Source: Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8
This bill amends the definition of 'vehicular unlawful activity' to include contraventions of the new section 172.2 of the Highway Traffic Act. It also allows vehicles involved in these contraventions to be subject to forfeiture proceedings under this Act.
Source: Sections 9, 10, and 11
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.
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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