Bill 52 explained in plain English
Protection of Public Participation 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 Protection of Public Participation Act, 2015, establishes a process to dismiss lawsuits that aim to limit public expression on matters of public interest and makes changes to defamation and administrative tribunal procedures.
This bill, the Protection of Public Participation Act, 2015, aims to protect individuals who speak out on matters of public interest from lawsuits intended to silence them. It does this by creating a process to dismiss such lawsuits early if they are found to be without merit and intended to stifle expression on public matters. The bill also modifies rules around defamation and the procedures for cost orders in administrative tribunals.
- Amends the Courts of Justice Act to introduce a process for dismissing legal proceedings that arise from expressions made on matters of public interest.
- Amends the Libel and Slander Act to clarify the application of qualified privilege for communications on matters of public interest.
- Amends the Statutory Powers Procedure Act to change the rules regarding written submissions for costs orders in tribunal proceedings.
- Creates new sections in the Courts of Justice Act (sections 137.1 to 137.5) that outline the purposes and procedures for dismissing lawsuits related to public expression.
- Introduces a mechanism for staying tribunal proceedings that are related to a lawsuit concerning public expression.
- Specifies that the new provisions apply to proceedings commenced on or after the date the bill received first reading.
- Individuals and entities involved in legal proceedings concerning expression on matters of public interest.
- Judges who hear motions to dismiss these proceedings.
- Parties involved in tribunal proceedings that may be stayed as a result of a motion to dismiss a related court proceeding.
- Media representatives and other persons who may witness or report on communications on matters of public interest.
- Tribunals in Ontario.
- The right for a person, against whom a proceeding is brought, to file a motion to dismiss the proceeding if it arises from their expression on a matter of public interest.
- The obligation for a judge to dismiss such a proceeding unless the party who brought it shows it has substantial merit, the defendant has no valid defence, and the public interest in continuing outweighs the public interest in protecting the expression.
- The right for a party to a tribunal proceeding to have it stayed if it relates to the same matter of public interest as a court proceeding subject to a dismissal motion.
- The right for a party to a tribunal proceeding to seek to lift a stay if it causes undue hardship or if the proceedings are not sufficiently related.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Royal Assent was given on November 3, 2015.
- The new provisions in the Courts of Justice Act (sections 137.1 to 137.4) apply to proceedings commenced on or after December 1, 2014 (the date the bill received first reading).
- If a motion to dismiss is successful, the moving party is generally entitled to costs on a full indemnity basis, unless a judge determines otherwise.
- If a motion to dismiss is denied, the responding party is generally not entitled to costs on the motion, unless a judge determines otherwise.
- A judge may award damages to the moving party if they dismiss a proceeding and find the responding party acted in bad faith or for an improper purpose.
- Legal proceedings arising from expression on matters of public interest may be dismissed.
- Costs may be awarded on a full indemnity basis if a proceeding is dismissed.
- Damages may be awarded if a proceeding is dismissed and found to be brought in bad faith or for an improper purpose.
- The definition of 'expression' is broad and includes any communication, verbal or non-verbal, public or private. The scope of 'matter of public interest' is not explicitly defined within the bill itself.
- The determination of whether a proceeding has 'substantial merit' and whether the moving party has 'no valid defence' is left to the judge's discretion.
- The condition that the harm from the expression must be 'sufficiently serious' for the public interest in permitting the proceeding to outweigh the public interest in protecting expression is subject to judicial interpretation.
- The duration of cross-examinations on documentary evidence is limited to seven hours per side, but a judge can extend this time if necessary in the interests of justice.
- The bill does not specify what happens if a party fails to comply with the requirement to file submissions for a costs order in writing.
Adds new sections (137.1 to 137.5) that create a process for dismissing legal proceedings if they arise from expression on matters of public interest. It also amends sections 6 and 19 regarding orders made under these new sections.
Source: Section 3 of the Bill
Adds a new section (25) clarifying that qualified privilege for communications on matters of public interest applies regardless of whether media or other persons witness or report on the communication.
Source: Section 4 of the Bill
Amends section 17.1 to require that submissions for a costs order must be in writing, unless a tribunal determines it would cause significant prejudice. It also repeals three spent subsections.
Source: Section 5 of the Bill
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