Bill 195 explained in plain English
Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) 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 Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020 provides a framework for managing COVID-19 related orders after the initial emergency declaration, including provisions for their continuation, amendment, revocation, enforcement, and reporting.
Bill 195, also known as the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020, was enacted to continue and manage orders made during the COVID-19 emergency declared under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act. It allows for these orders to be extended, amended, or revoked, and establishes rules for enforcement, reporting, and the eventual termination of the COVID-19 declared emergency.
- Enacts the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020.
- Continues orders that were made under sections 7.0.2 or 7.1 of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act and were not revoked before this Act came into force.
- Specifies that continued orders will cease to apply after 30 days, unless extended.
- Allows the Lieutenant Governor in Council to extend the effective period of continued orders for additional periods of up to 30 days.
- Grants the Lieutenant Governor in Council the power to amend continued orders, with certain limitations and conditions.
- Specifies certain existing orders that cannot be amended under this Act.
- Allows for amendments to address transitional matters related to the termination of the COVID-19 declared emergency, the enactment of this Act, or the continuation of orders.
- Allows the Lieutenant Governor in Council to revoke continued orders.
- Permits the Lieutenant Governor in Council to delegate powers related to extending, amending, or revoking orders to a minister.
- States that the powers to extend or amend orders cease to apply after one year, but can be extended by a resolution of the Assembly on the recommendation of the Premier for periods of up to one year.
- Includes provisions for enforcing continued orders, including court orders to restrain contraventions and offences for non-compliance.
- Requires the Premier or a delegated minister to regularly report to the public about continued orders.
- Requires the Premier or a delegated minister to appear before and report to an Assembly committee at least every 30 days regarding order extensions and the rationale for them.
- Requires the Premier to table a report in the Assembly after one year and after any extension of the power to extend or amend orders.
- Provides for the termination of the COVID-19 declared emergency if it has not already been terminated.
- Makes the Act binding on the Crown.
- The Government of Ontario (Lieutenant Governor in Council, Premier, Ministers)
- The Legislative Assembly of Ontario
- The public
- Corporations and individuals who are subject to orders made under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act related to COVID-19
- Health care staff and facilities (related to credentialing processes)
- Persons responsible for workplaces
- Individuals and corporations are obligated to comply with continued orders.
- The Premier or a delegated minister has an obligation to report regularly to the public and to the Assembly committee.
- The Premier has an obligation to table reports in the Assembly.
- The public has a right to receive regular reports.
- The Assembly has the power to extend the powers to amend and extend orders through resolution.
- The Crown in right of Ontario has the right to seek court orders to restrain contraventions of continued orders.
- The Act comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor.
- Continued orders cease to apply 30 days after they are continued, unless extended.
- The power to extend or amend orders ceases to apply on the first anniversary of the day orders are continued under section 2, unless extended by Assembly resolution.
- Extensions of the power to extend or amend orders can be for periods of no more than one year.
- The Premier must table a report in the Assembly within 120 days after the first anniversary of the day orders are continued, and after each extension period.
- Individuals convicted of failing to comply with a continued order face fines of up to $100,000 and/or imprisonment for up to one year.
- Directors or officers of corporations convicted of an offence face fines of up to $500,000 and/or imprisonment for up to one year.
- Corporations convicted of an offence face fines of up to $10,000,000.
- Courts may increase fines by the amount of financial benefit acquired from the commission of the offence.
- The Act states that no action is an expropriation regarding this Act and its orders.
- Contravention of a continued order can be restrained by a court order obtained by the Crown.
- Failure to comply with a continued order or interfering with someone exercising a power or duty under such an order is an offence.
- Penalties for offences include significant fines for individuals and corporations, and potential imprisonment for individuals.
- Offences are considered separate for each day they occur or continue.
- A person cannot be charged for non-compliance with a retroactive amendment if the conduct occurred before the amendment but after the specified retroactive date.
- The specific day the Act comes into force is not detailed and depends on proclamation.
- While the Act lists several orders that cannot be amended under clause 4(1)(a), it does not explicitly state all types of orders that could be amended under clause 4(1)(b) (transitional matters).
- The definition of 'public health official' is to be defined by regulation, which is not provided within the text.
- The specific standing or select committee designated by the Assembly to receive 30-day interval reports is not identified in the Act.
Establishes new legislation to manage orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: Section 2
Orders made under these sections are continued under the new Reopening Ontario Act and will cease to be orders under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.
Source: Section 2 (1)
Modifies references to 'the emergency' and 'the declared emergency' in section 7.0.2 to mean the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects, or when an order is revoked or ceases to apply, respectively, for the purposes of amending continued orders.
Source: Section 4 (1)(a), Section 7 (3) para 1 and 2
This specific regulation is revoked unless the COVID-19 declared emergency was terminated before this Act came into force.
Source: Section 17
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