Bill 93 explained in plain English
Towing Industry 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 93, the Towing Industry Act, 2013, creates a self-regulating council to license and oversee the towing industry in Ontario, establishing standards, registration requirements, and disciplinary procedures.
This bill establishes the Towing Industry Act, 2013, to regulate the motor vehicle towing industry in Ontario. It aims to ensure the public has access to high-quality towing services provided with honesty, integrity, and at a reasonable cost. The Act creates the Towing Industry Council of Ontario, which will be responsible for self-regulation of the industry. Towing businesses, operators, and tow truck drivers will need to register with the Council. The Act also includes provisions for a complaints and discipline procedure, specifies offenses and penalties, and makes amendments to the Highway Traffic Act. Additionally, it clarifies that tow trucks are considered commercial motor vehicles under the Highway Traffic Act.
- Establishes the Towing Industry Council of Ontario to regulate the towing industry.
- Requires towing businesses, operators, and tow truck drivers to register with the Council.
- Provides for a complaints and discipline process for registered individuals and businesses.
- Creates offences and penalties for non-compliance with the Act.
- Amends the Highway Traffic Act to include tow trucks as commercial motor vehicles.
- Establishes rules regarding the composition and powers of the Towing Industry Council's board of directors and committees.
- Grants the Minister of Government Services oversight powers regarding the Council's activities and regulations.
- Operators of towing businesses
- Tow truck drivers
- The public using towing services
- The Crown and municipalities (when retaining towing services)
- Businesses that work on or repair vehicles (in relation to referral fees)
- Towing businesses, operators, and tow truck drivers must register with the Towing Industry Council of Ontario.
- Registered individuals and businesses must comply with the Act, regulations, and by-laws, including a code of ethics.
- The Crown and municipalities must verify registration before retaining tow truck drivers.
- Operators and tow truck drivers are prohibited from accepting referral fees from repair businesses.
- The Towing Industry Council of Ontario has the power to suspend or revoke registrations.
- Individuals have the right to appeal decisions of the registration committee and the board of directors.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent, except for specific sections.
- Sections 1 to 29 and 31 and 33 come into force on the first anniversary of the day the Act receives Royal Assent.
- Section 32 comes into force on the later of the day subsection 4 (1) of the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010, comes into force and the first anniversary of the day this Act receives Royal Assent.
- The activities of the Towing Industry Council of Ontario are funded through fees established by by-law, paid by registered persons and applicants.
- Regulations may establish maximum fees for towing services.
- Contravention of registration requirements (section 3) is an offence.
- Obstructing an investigator, withholding or destroying relevant information is an offence with fines up to $2,000 for a first offence and $10,000 for subsequent offences.
- Making false representations to obtain registration is an offence with fines up to $10,000 for a first offence and $20,000 for subsequent offences.
- Accepting a referral fee is an offence.
- Failure to comply with confidentiality requirements can result in fines up to $15,000 for a first offence and $30,000 for subsequent offences.
- The discipline committee can revoke or suspend registrations, or impose terms, conditions, or limitations.
- The specific details of 'prescribed requirements' for registration eligibility, grounds for suspension, circumstances for revocation, and specific fees are to be determined by regulations.
- The exact composition of the board of directors (number of individuals) will be specified by by-law.
- The specific duties and powers of committees and the Registrar will be further detailed in regulations and by-laws.
Establishes new rules and a regulatory body for the towing industry in Ontario.
Specifies that tow trucks, as defined in the Towing Industry Act, 2013, are considered commercial motor vehicles for the purposes of that Act.
Removes references to the Corporations Act and substitutes them with references to the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010, in relation to the Towing Industry Council of Ontario.
Removes references to the Corporations Information Act and substitutes them with references to the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010, in relation to the Towing Industry Council of Ontario.
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