Bill 45 explained in plain English
Election Statute Law Amendment Act, 2016
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 41st 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 45, the Election Statute Law Amendment Act, 2016, enacts various changes to Ontario's election laws, including election timing, voter registration, use of technology, candidate access to buildings, and electoral boundary reviews.
This bill makes several changes to Ontario's election laws. Key changes include setting the date for regular provincial elections to the first Thursday in June, allowing 16 and 17 year olds to register to vote provisionally, and enabling the use of vote counting equipment. It also introduces rules for candidate access to multiple-residence buildings, with penalties for violations. The bill updates how elector information can be shared with political parties and introduces unique identifiers for voters. Additionally, it establishes a commission to review electoral boundaries in the Far North and makes changes to candidate nomination processes and ballot information. School boards are required to make schools available as polling places. Some advertising restrictions for unscheduled elections are removed. The bill also allows candidates to use their ordinary surname on ballots instead of their legal surname and modifies rules for advance polls.
- Changes the date of scheduled provincial elections to the first Thursday in June.
- Allows 16 and 17-year-olds to be placed on a provisional voters' register if they request it.
- Permits the Chief Electoral Officer to authorize the use of vote counting equipment.
- Prohibits owners of multiple-residence buildings from denying access to candidates and their canvassers, establishing administrative penalties for non-compliance.
- Requires the Chief Electoral Officer to assign a unique identifier to each elector on the permanent register.
- Restricts the information from the Permanent Register of Electors that can be shared with political parties to name, unique identifier, and address, and requires parties to have a privacy policy.
- Requires poll clerks to prepare documents identifying electors who voted at regular intervals, which can be shared with political parties.
- Updates processes for candidate nomination, registration, and endorsement.
- Allows political parties and candidates to opt out of receiving elector information.
- Permits candidates to use their ordinary surname on ballots instead of their legal surname.
- Modifies the rules for advance polls.
- Ensures school boards make schools available as polling places.
- Eliminates the first advertising blackout period for unscheduled elections.
- Establishes the Far North Electoral Boundaries Commission to review electoral districts in that region.
- Amends electoral district boundaries to include Wahnapitae Indian Reserve No. 11 in the Nickel Belt electoral district.
- Allows the Chief Electoral Officer to share election resources with other Canadian electoral authorities.
- Electors (including 16 and 17-year-olds)
- Candidates
- Political parties
- Chief Electoral Officer
- Returning Officers
- Owners of multiple-residence buildings
- School boards
- Voters
- Indigenous persons
- Candidates and their representatives have a right to access common areas of multiple-residence buildings under specific conditions.
- Owners of multiple-residence buildings have an obligation not to prevent access to candidates and representatives.
- The Chief Electoral Officer has the right to authorize vote counting equipment.
- Political parties must submit a privacy policy to receive elector information.
- Candidates can request to have their ordinary surname appear on ballots.
- School boards have an obligation to make schools available as polling places.
- This Act comes into force on the later of January 1, 2017, and the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Sections 4, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 33 and 35 come into force on July 1, 2017.
- The Far North Electoral Boundaries Commission is to submit its final report within three months of its members being appointed.
- Legislation to implement the final recommendations of the Far North Electoral Boundaries Commission must be introduced before October 30, 2017.
- Section 36 (Far North Electoral Boundaries Commission) is repealed on December 31, 2017.
- Administrative penalties for owners of multiple-residence buildings are $500 for a first contravention, $1,000 for a second, and $2,000 for third and subsequent contraventions within an election period. These penalties are paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
- Revenue derived from the Chief Electoral Officer sharing election resources with other electoral authorities will be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
- Remuneration, expenses, and costs for the Far North Electoral Boundaries Commission will be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
- Administrative penalties can be ordered by a returning officer against owners of multiple-residence buildings for contravening access rules. These penalties are payable to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
- Orders to pay administrative penalties can be filed with a local registrar of the Superior Court of Justice and enforced as a court order if not paid.
- The bill text does not specify the exact nature of the 'vote counting equipment' or the specific standards for the privacy policies required for political parties to receive elector information.
- The specific 'guidelines published under section 17.5' for privacy policies are not detailed within this bill text.
- The exact remuneration for members of the Far North Electoral Boundaries Commission is to be determined by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
- The specific form for the notice of access refusal in multiple-residence buildings is prescribed by the Chief Electoral Officer, but not included in the bill text.
- The bill does not specify what happens if the Far North Electoral Boundaries Commission's recommendations are not implemented by the deadline.
Amends various sections to reflect changes in election dates, voter registration, use of technology, information sharing, candidate nomination and access, advance polls, and administrative penalties.
Source: Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33
Adds a requirement for school boards to make school premises available as polling places.
Source: Section 34
Changes the definition of 'candidate', modifies rules for candidate registration and nomination, and removes the first advertising blackout period for unscheduled elections.
Source: Section 35
Establishes the Far North Electoral Boundaries Commission and makes changes to the boundaries of two electoral districts.
Source: Section 36
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