Bill 139 explained in plain English
Smoke-Free Schools Act, 2015
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 41st 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
The Smoke-Free Schools Act, 2015, amends Ontario's Smoke-Free Ontario Act and Tobacco Tax Act to expand smoke-free zones to schools, increase penalties for tobacco-related offences, and enhance enforcement powers and procedures.
This bill, the Smoke-Free Schools Act, 2015, amends existing laws in Ontario to enhance smoke-free regulations and tobacco tax enforcement. Key changes include establishing a public education program on tobacco health risks, expanding the definition of designated places where tobacco sales are prohibited to include schools and private schools, and increasing penalties for certain tobacco-related offences. It also allows the Minister to share proceeds from forfeited property with police forces and clarifies that costs incurred by police or the Crown for vehicle removal and storage are recoverable debts. Additionally, the bill grants police officers enforcement powers previously held only by individuals authorized by the Minister regarding unmarked tobacco products, and modifies driver's licence suspension periods for certain tobacco transportation offences.
- Establishes a new public education program requirement for the government regarding the health risks of tobacco use. (Section 3.0.1 of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act)
- Designates schools (as defined in the Education Act) and private schools as places where tobacco sales are prohibited. (Subsection 4 (2) of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act)
- Increases fines for certain tobacco-related offences, including presenting illegal age identification and selling tobacco in designated places.
- Allows the Minister to share proceeds from forfeited property with police forces that participated in investigations leading to forfeiture. (New section 23.3 of the Tobacco Tax Act)
- Clarifies that costs incurred by police forces or the Crown to remove, store, or dispose of vehicles under Section 24 of the Tobacco Tax Act are a debt that can be recovered in court. (New subsection 24 (10.11.1) of the Tobacco Tax Act)
- Grants police officers the same enforcement powers as individuals authorized by the Minister concerning unmarked tobacco products. (Subsection 29 (3) of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act)
- Increases penalties for various tobacco offences, including those related to interprovincial importers, manufacturing, possession of unmarked cigarettes, and resale of marked or unmarked cigarettes.
- Modifies driver's licence suspension periods for individuals convicted of using a motor vehicle in certain tobacco transportation offences.
- The Government of Ontario (in establishing a public education program)
- School boards and private schools
- Individuals involved in the sale or possession of tobacco products
- Police forces
- The Crown
- Individuals convicted of tobacco-related offences
- Motor vehicle drivers convicted of certain tobacco transportation offences
- The Government has an obligation to establish a public education program on tobacco risks.
- Police forces have the right to potentially share proceeds from forfeited property.
- Police forces and the Crown have the right to recover costs for vehicle removal, storage, or disposal.
- Individuals convicted of certain tobacco offences may have their driver's licences suspended for extended periods.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Increases in fines for tobacco-related offences.
- Potential sharing of proceeds from forfeited property with police forces.
- Costs incurred by police or the Crown for vehicle removal, storage, or disposal are recoverable as debt.
- Increased fines for presenting illegal age identification and selling tobacco in designated places.
- Increased penalties for interprovincial importers, manufacturing of tobacco products, possession of unmarked cigarettes, and resale of cigarettes.
- Increased fines for offences related to the transportation of tobacco products.
- Extended driver's licence suspension periods for certain tobacco transportation offences.
- The specific details of the public education program to be established are not detailed in the bill.
- The application of amendments to the Table to section 15 of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act is conditional on the commencement of Section 5 of Schedule 2 to the Making Healthier Choices Act, 2015.
Introduces a requirement for a government public education program on tobacco health risks, expands the definition of prohibited tobacco sale locations to include schools and private schools, increases fines for certain offences, grants police officers enforcement powers for unmarked tobacco, and changes penalties and licence suspension periods for tobacco-related offences.
Source: Sections 1, 4, 15, 29, 35, and 35.1
Permits the Minister to share proceeds from forfeited property with police forces, clarifies that costs for vehicle removal and storage are recoverable debts, and increases penalties for various tobacco offences.
Source: Sections 1, 6, 7, 23.3, and 24
The definition of 'school' in the Education Act is used to designate schools and private schools as places where tobacco sales are prohibited under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act.
Source: Subsection 4 (2) of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act
Defines 'police force' for the purposes of the Tobacco Tax Act amendments.
Source: Subsection 1 (1) of the Tobacco Tax Act
The commencement and amendment of Section 5 of Schedule 2 of this Act may affect how certain tables of fines in the Smoke-Free Ontario Act are amended by this bill.
Source: Subsections 1 (3) and 1 (4)
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