Bill 167 explained in plain English
Legislative Assembly Amendment Act, 2020
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
Bill 167 amends the Legislative Assembly Act to adjust the appointment of the Deputy Speaker, clarify the Speaker's role as guardian of Assembly rights, modify employee oaths, and update the functions and authority of the Legislative Protective Service.
Bill 167, the Legislative Assembly Amendment Act, 2020, amends the Legislative Assembly Act in Ontario. Key changes include how the Deputy Speaker is chosen, defining the Speaker as the guardian of Assembly rights, extending protections against personal service in the legislative precinct, altering rules for payments from the Legislative Assembly Fund, and modifying oaths for employees of the Office of the Assembly to include recognition of Indigenous rights. It also updates provisions related to the Legislative Protective Service, defining their roles, powers, and the Speaker's authority over them. The bill also makes related changes to other acts, such as the Community Safety and Policing Act and the Special Investigations Unit Act.
- Changes how the Deputy Speaker is appointed.
- Names the Speaker as the guardian of the rights, immunities, privileges, and powers of the Legislative Assembly, its committees, and its members.
- Extends the prohibition on personal service of civil process to the entire legislative precinct.
- Modifies the authorization requirements for payments from the Legislative Assembly Fund.
- Clarifies that proceedings of the Board of Internal Economy are considered proceedings in Parliament.
- Repeals sections related to the disciplining of employees of the Office of the Assembly.
- Updates the oaths and affirmations for employees of the Office of the Assembly to include recognition of Indigenous peoples' aboriginal and treaty rights, and adds exemptions for the oath of allegiance.
- Updates the definition of the 'legislative precinct' and places it under the control of the Speaker.
- Changes provisions related to the Legislative Protective Service, including their role outside the legislative precinct, guidelines for their operations, and their status as peace officers.
- Makes consequential amendments to other Ontario Acts.
- Amends the French version of section 36 of the Act.
- Repeals section 77.4 of the Act.
- Repeals subsection 87 (6) of the Act.
- Amends subsection 103 (3) of the Act.
- Amends subsection 85 (1) of the Act.
- Adds new sections to the Act concerning the legislative precinct and the Legislative Protective Service.
- Members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
- The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
- The Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
- Employees of the Office of the Assembly.
- The Legislative Protective Service.
- Individuals interacting with the legislative precinct regarding civil process.
- The Board of Internal Economy.
- Individuals seeking to serve civil process within the legislative precinct.
- Employees of the Office of the Assembly must take an oath or affirmation of office that includes recognizing and affirming Indigenous peoples' aboriginal and treaty rights.
- Employees who are not Canadian citizens may be exempt from the oath of allegiance if it could lead to loss of citizenship.
- Employees who identify as Indigenous may be exempt from the oath of allegiance if it conflicts with their views on the relationship between the Crown and Indigenous peoples.
- The Speaker has the authority to authorize persons in the Legislative Protective Service to possess and use weapons.
- The Legislative Protective Service has the powers of a police officer, with some exceptions for enforcing certain prescribed Acts.
- The Speaker is the guardian of the rights, immunities, privileges, and powers of the Assembly, its committees, and its members.
- Personal service of civil process is prohibited within the legislative precinct.
- The Act came into force on the day it received Royal Assent (July 14, 2020).
- Section 19 comes into force on the later of the day a definition in Schedule 1 to the Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act, 2019 comes into force and the day this Act receives Royal Assent.
- Section 20 comes into force on the later of the day a definition in Schedule 5 to the Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act, 2019 comes into force and the day this Act receives Royal Assent.
- A payment can only be made out of the Legislative Assembly Fund if authorized by the Speaker or Deputy Speaker, and the Clerk or another person authorized by the Speaker.
- The bill does not explicitly detail new penalties for contraventions. However, it grants peace officer status and police officer powers to certain members of the Legislative Protective Service for carrying out their duties.
- The specific Acts prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council that are excluded from the police officer powers of the Legislative Protective Service are not detailed in the bill.
- The exact nature of 'guidelines and directives' that the Speaker may issue for the Legislative Protective Service is not fully specified.
- The bill refers to other Acts (e.g., Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act, 2019, Criminal Code (Canada)) without providing their full text, making the complete scope of changes dependent on those other laws.
- The bill does not specify the number of Deputy Speakers that can be appointed.
This bill significantly amends the Legislative Assembly Act, changing rules around the election/appointment of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, defining the Speaker's role as guardian of Assembly rights, modifying employee oaths, updating provisions related to the Legislative Protective Service and the legislative precinct, and repealing certain sections concerning employee discipline and other matters.
Source: Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
The bill updates the definition of 'peace officer in the Legislative Protective Service' to refer to a person who is a peace officer under a new section of the Legislative Assembly Act.
Source: Section 19
The bill amends the definition of 'official' to include persons who are peace officers under a new section of the Legislative Assembly Act, specifically relating to the Legislative Protective Service.
Source: Section 20
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