Bill 49 explained in plain English
Transparency and Accountability in Government Contracting 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
This bill enacts the Privatizations and Public-Private Partnerships Transparency and Accountability Act, 2016, to promote transparency and accountability in government contracting, and amends the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008.
Bill 49, the Transparency and Accountability in Government Contracting Act, 2016, establishes new rules for how the Ontario government and public sector entities handle privatizations and public-private partnerships. It aims to ensure these processes are transparent and accountable. The bill also amends the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008, to include provisions for successor rights in the transfer of undertakings involving college employees. A new act, the Privatizations and Public-Private Partnerships Transparency and Accountability Act, 2016, is enacted, and the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008, is amended.
- Enacts the Privatizations and Public-Private Partnerships Transparency and Accountability Act, 2016.
- Amends the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008.
- Requires public sector entities to conduct preliminary analyses and public consultations before initiating a privatization of services valued at $2 million or more.
- Mandates reviews by the Financial Accountability Officer and the Auditor General for privatizations and public-private partnerships.
- Establishes rules for public-private partnerships for major capital projects valued at $20 million or more, requiring similar analyses and consultations.
- Specifies that private sector entities awarded contracts for public services are considered institutions for the purposes of freedom of information legislation, with limitations.
- Ineligible for 10 years from bidding on privatizations if convicted of certain financial or corruption-related offences.
- Amends the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008, to apply successor rights provisions to the transfer of undertakings involving college employees.
- Ontario public sector entities (including Crown agencies, municipalities, education institutions, hospitals, and certain corporations)
- Private sector entities contracting with the Ontario government or public sector entities
- The Financial Accountability Officer
- The Auditor General
- Members of the public
- Workers and their representatives affected by privatizations or public-private partnerships
- The Crown in right of Ontario
- Employees under the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008
- Public sector entities must conduct preliminary analyses and public consultations before privatizing services valued at $2 million or more or entering into public-private partnerships for major capital projects ($20 million or more).
- Public sector entities must make information about privatizations and public-private partnerships publicly available, with some exceptions.
- The Financial Accountability Officer must review analyses and reports and provide periods for public comment.
- The Auditor General has the power to access information and review reports related to these processes.
- Private sector entities involved in privatizations are deemed institutions for freedom of information purposes.
- Private sector entities convicted of certain offences are ineligible to bid on privatizations for 10 years.
- The Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008, is amended to apply successor rights to the transfer of undertakings involving college employees.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent (referring to the Transparency and Accountability in Government Contracting Act, 2016).
- The Schedules to the Act come into force as provided in each Schedule.
- The Privatizations and Public-Private Partnerships Transparency and Accountability Act, 2016 (Schedule 1) comes into force 180 days after the Transparency and Accountability in Government Contracting Act, 2016 receives Royal Assent.
- Amendments to the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008 (Schedule 2) come into force on the day the Transparency and Accountability in Government Contracting Act, 2016 receives Royal Assent.
- Privatization of services requires a projected total value of $2 million or more for the preliminary analysis and public consultation requirements to apply.
- Public-private partnerships for major capital projects require a projected total cost of $20 million or more for specific provisions to apply.
- The analysis of costs, benefits, and value for money is a key component of the process for both privatizations and public-private partnerships.
- A private sector entity is ineligible to submit a bid for a privatization for 10 years if convicted of, or pleads guilty to, certain offences, including fraud, corruption, bid-rigging, money laundering, and others.
- Similar ineligibility applies to public-private partnerships for major capital projects.
- The bill allows for certain information to be withheld if its disclosure could jeopardize the public sector entity's ability to realize the best value for money through a competitive procurement process.
- The specific details of regulations to be made under the Act are not provided in the text.
- The definition of 'public sector entity' is extensive and includes many types of organizations, but some may be subject to prescribed conditions.
- The application of freedom of information legislation to private sector entities is limited to records relevant to the contracted services or partnership.
This new Act sets out the rules for transparency and accountability in government contracting related to privatizations and public-private partnerships.
Source: Section 2(1)
This Act is amended to specify that section 69 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (regarding successor rights on the sale of a business) applies to the transfer of an undertaking involving employees covered by the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008.
Source: Schedule 2, Section 1
Private sector entities awarded contracts for public services or entering public-private partnerships are deemed institutions under this Act, though access requests are limited to records relevant to the contracted services or partnership.
Source: Schedule 1, Section 11(1), Section 20(1)
Private sector entities awarded contracts for public services or entering public-private partnerships are deemed institutions under this Act, though access requests are limited to records relevant to the contracted services or partnership.
Source: Schedule 1, Section 11(1), Section 20(1)
Section 69 of this Act, which deals with successor rights on the sale of a business, is made applicable to the transfer of undertakings involving college employees under the amended Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008.
Source: Schedule 2, Section 1(2)
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
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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