Bill 116 explained in plain English
Foundations for Promoting and Protecting Mental Health and Addictions Services Act, 2019
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd 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
This bill establishes a Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence within Ontario Health and allows the Ontario government to sue opioid manufacturers and wholesalers to recover healthcare costs related to opioid harms.
Bill 116, also known as the Foundations for Promoting and Protecting Mental Health and Addictions Services Act, 2019, enacts two new laws in Ontario. The first establishes a Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence within Ontario Health. This centre will help put into action Ontario's mental health and addictions strategy, develop standards, monitor performance, and provide resources. The second new law is the Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, 2019. This law allows the Ontario government to sue manufacturers and wholesalers of opioid products to recover costs related to healthcare benefits that resulted from opioid-related harms. It also changes rules about how long such legal actions can be started. The bill also amends the Connecting Care Act, 2019 and the Limitations Act, 2002.
- Enacts the Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence Act, 2019.
- Enacts the Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, 2019.
- Amends the Connecting Care Act, 2019 to include the Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence.
- Amends the Limitations Act, 2002.
- Provides Ontario with a direct legal action to recover costs associated with opioid-related harms.
- Establishes rules for evidence and liability in legal actions concerning opioid harms.
- Changes the time limits for starting legal proceedings related to opioid harms.
- Allows Ontario Health to develop and implement a mental health and addictions strategy.
- The Government of Ontario
- Ontario Health
- Manufacturers and wholesalers of opioid products
- Individuals who have used or been exposed to opioid products
- Health service providers
- Integrated care delivery systems
- Court system
- Ontario Health has the function to establish and maintain a Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence.
- Ontario Health has the duty to carry out specific functions through its Centre of Excellence.
- The Crown in right of Ontario has the right to commence a direct legal action against manufacturers and wholesalers for opioid-related harms.
- Defendants in opioid-related actions may have joint and several liability.
- The court may apportion liability based on various factors in opioid-related actions.
- The Foundations for Promoting and Protecting Mental Health and Addictions Services Act, 2019 received Royal Assent on December 12, 2019.
- The Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence Act, 2019 comes into force on a day named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor.
- The Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, 2019, with some exceptions, comes into force on the day the Foundations for Promoting and Protecting Mental Health and Addictions Services Act, 2019 receives Royal Assent.
- Section 6 of the Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, 2019, which deals with limitation periods, permits proceedings to be commenced within 15 years after that section comes into force.
- The Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, 2019 allows the Ontario government to seek recovery of costs related to health care benefits caused or contributed to by opioid-related wrongs.
- The Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, 2019 provides for legal actions to recover costs and damages.
- The specific date for the commencement of the Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence Act, 2019 is to be named by proclamation.
- The bill does not specify the exact structure or budget of the Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence, only its functions.
- The bill allows for regulations to be made, which will provide further details not present in the Act itself.
This Act establishes a Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence within Ontario Health to support the province's mental health and addictions strategy.
Source: Schedule 1
This Act grants the Ontario government the ability to sue manufacturers and wholesalers of opioid products to recover the costs of health care benefits resulting from opioid-related harms, and modifies limitation periods for such actions.
Source: Schedule 2
Amends section 6 by adding a clause requiring Ontario Health's Centre of Excellence to support the mental health and addictions strategy, and amends section 46 by referencing the Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence Act, 2019.
Source: Section 6 of Schedule 1
Adds a provision to the Schedule of the Limitations Act, 2002, related to the commencement of proceedings under the Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, 2019.
Source: Section 15 of Schedule 2
Amends the definition of 'health care benefits' in the Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, 2019.
Source: Section 14 (1) of Schedule 2
Amends the definition of 'health care benefits' in the Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, 2019.
Source: Section 14 (2) of Schedule 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.
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