Bill 66 explained in plain English
Asbestos Use Prohibition Act, 2018
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 41st Parliament, 3rd 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 prohibits the use, import, transport, and sale of asbestos in Ontario and mandates a public register of provincial buildings containing asbestos.
Bill 66, the Asbestos Use Prohibition Act, 2018, aims to ban the use, reuse, import, transport, and sale of asbestos in Ontario. It also requires the Ministry of Labour to create and maintain a public register of all provincially owned or leased buildings that contain asbestos. Owners or lessees of these buildings must report the presence of asbestos and details about its location. The Ministry can appoint inspectors to ensure compliance with the Act. The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Prohibits any person from using, reusing, importing, transporting, or selling asbestos in Ontario, with an exception for existing products if the person is unaware they contain asbestos.
- Requires the Minister of Labour to establish and maintain an Asbestos Buildings Register that lists all provincially owned or leased buildings containing asbestos.
- Mandates owners or lessees of provincially owned or leased buildings to report to the Minister whether their buildings contain asbestos, providing specific details about its location.
- Requires reporting to the Minister about work done to reduce asbestos in provincially owned or leased buildings.
- Allows the Minister to appoint inspectors to ensure compliance with the Act.
- Grants inspectors the power to enter and inspect provincially owned or leased buildings, examine records, take samples, and question individuals.
- Establishes that contravening provisions of the Act or obstructing an inspector is an offence, with penalties to be prescribed by regulations.
- Empowers the Minister to make regulations concerning reporting timeframes, exemptions, the administration of the Register, fines, and forms.
- Specifies that the Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Persons who use, reuse, import, transport, or sell asbestos.
- Owners or lessees of provincially owned or leased buildings.
- The Minister of Labour and the Ministry of Labour.
- Inspectors appointed under the Act.
- Entities that form part of the broader public sector in Ontario.
- Crown agents, agencies, boards, and commissions of the Government of Ontario.
- The right for inspectors to enter and inspect provincially owned or leased buildings.
- The obligation for persons to comply with prohibitions on asbestos use, import, transport, and sale.
- The obligation for owners/lessees of provincially owned or leased buildings to report asbestos presence and details.
- The obligation for individuals to cooperate with inspectors, answer questions, and produce records.
- The right for individuals to request and receive copies of removed records.
- The right for individuals to have records and things returned within a reasonable time.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Penalties in the form of fines will be prescribed by regulations for contravening the Act.
- Contravention of the use, reuse, import, transport, or sale prohibitions for asbestos is an offence liable to a fine prescribed by regulations (Section 2(4)).
- Contravention of reporting duties for provincially owned or leased buildings is an offence liable to a fine prescribed by regulations (Section 3(5)).
- Hindering, obstructing, interfering with an inspector, refusing to answer questions, or providing false/misleading information is an offence liable to a fine prescribed by regulations (Section 4(11)).
- The specific amount of fines for offences is not detailed in the Act but will be prescribed by regulations.
- The time periods for reporting asbestos presence and work done on buildings are to be specified by regulations.
- The exact scope of 'existing products containing asbestos' for the exception is not further defined.
- The Act does not specify which other members of the Executive Council may be assigned the administration of the Act.
- The definition of 'broader public sector' refers to a subsection of the Financial Administration Act, which is not included in the provided text.
This new Act creates prohibitions on asbestos use and establishes a register for provincial buildings containing asbestos, along with inspection powers and offences.
Source: Sections 1-7
The Minister is authorized to appoint inspectors and grants them specific powers to enter and inspect provincially owned or leased buildings, examine records, take samples, and question people to ensure compliance with the Act.
Source: Section 4
The Minister is required to establish and maintain a public register of all provincially owned or leased buildings containing asbestos, which will be updated and published on a government website.
Source: Section 3 (1), 3 (4)
Owners or lessees of provincially owned or leased buildings must provide reports to the Minister about the presence and location of asbestos, and about work done to reduce asbestos.
Source: Section 3 (2), 3 (3)
Contravention of the Act's prohibitions or duties, or obstructing an inspector, constitutes an offence with penalties to be set by regulation.
Source: Section 2 (4), 3 (5), 4 (11)
The Minister is empowered to make regulations regarding reporting timelines, exemptions, the administration of the Register, prescribed fines, and official forms.
Source: Section 5
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