Bill 192 explained in plain English
Protecting Small Business 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
The Protecting Small Business Act, 2020, temporarily restricts certain landlord actions related to evictions and seizures for rent arrears when landlords are eligible for or receiving specific federal rent assistance.
This Act amends the Commercial Tenancies Act. It creates a period called the 'non-enforcement period' which restricts landlords from evicting tenants or seizing their property for unpaid rent if the landlord is eligible for or receives assistance from the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance for small businesses program. It also addresses actions taken by landlords between May 1, 2020, and the start of the non-enforcement period.
- Amends the Commercial Tenancies Act to add a new Part IV concerning a 'non-enforcement period'.
- Prohibits judges from ordering writs of possession that would be effective during the non-enforcement period if the reason is rent arrears.
- Prohibits landlords from exercising a right of re-entry during the non-enforcement period.
- Requires landlords to restore possession or compensate tenants if they exercised a right of re-entry between May 1, 2020, and the start of the non-enforcement period.
- Prohibits landlords from seizing goods or chattels as distress for rent during the non-enforcement period.
- Requires landlords to return unsold goods seized as distress for rent between May 1, 2020, and the start of the non-enforcement period.
- Establishes that the new provisions in Part IV of the Commercial Tenancies Act do not apply if the landlord is approved for the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program, for actions taken after approval.
- Specifies that landlords who are eligible for or would be eligible for the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program (if they agree to a rent reduction and eviction moratorium) are subject to these new restrictions.
- Landlords in Ontario
- Tenants in Ontario
- Judges who make eviction orders
- Landlords are prohibited from exercising a right of re-entry during the non-enforcement period.
- Landlords are prohibited from seizing goods or chattels as distress for rent during the non-enforcement period.
- Landlords who exercised a right of re-entry between May 1, 2020, and the start of the non-enforcement period must restore possession or compensate the tenant.
- Landlords who seized goods between May 1, 2020, and the start of the non-enforcement period must return unsold goods.
- Judges cannot order writs of possession effective during the non-enforcement period for rent arrears.
- The new rules regarding non-enforcement periods do not apply to landlords who are approved for the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance for small businesses program, for actions taken after approval.
- The Act received Royal Assent on June 18, 2020, and came into force on that day.
- Subsections 1 (2) and 2 (2) of the Act came into force on September 1, 2020, or an earlier day named by proclamation.
- The 'non-enforcement period' begins on the day subsection 2 (1) of the Protecting Small Business Act, 2020 comes into force and ends on September 1, 2020, or an earlier day named by proclamation.
- Actions taken by landlords between May 1, 2020, and the day subsection 2 (1) of the Protecting Small Business Act, 2020 comes into force are subject to specific restoration or compensation requirements.
- The Act is linked to the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance for small businesses program, which provides financial assistance to eligible landlords.
- Landlords who contravene sections 82 or 84, or fail to comply with section 83 (1) (a) or section 85, are liable for damages sustained by the aggrieved person.
- The exact start date of the 'non-enforcement period' depends on when 'subsection 2 (1) of the Protecting Small Business Act, 2020' comes into force, which is not explicitly stated as a fixed calendar date in this bill but is tied to its own commencement.
- The end date of the 'non-enforcement period' is stated as 'the day this section is repealed', which is the start of the repeal process, rather than a fixed calendar date.
- The bill text does not specify what happens if a landlord is eligible but refuses to enter into a rent reduction agreement with a tenant. It only states the rules apply if the landlord 'would be eligible... if the landlord entered into a rent reduction agreement'.
- Subsection 2 (2) of the bill indicates that certain parts come into force on September 1, 2020, or an earlier day named by proclamation. The specific date of proclamation is not provided.
- The bill states that Part IV is repealed by Section 2(2) of the Act, but the exact date of this repeal is not fixed and depends on proclamation or September 1, 2020.
Adds a new Part IV to establish a 'non-enforcement period' and related rules for landlords and tenants, and amends the definition of 'landlord' to include references to this new Part.
Source: Section 1, Section 2
The definition of 'landlord' is amended to include references to the new Part IV, and then subsequently amended to remove those references when Part IV is repealed.
Source: Section 1 (1) and 1 (2)
The newly added Part IV of the Commercial Tenancies Act is repealed.
Source: Section 2 (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