Bill 116 explained in plain English
Auditor General Amendment Act, 2022
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd Parliament, 2nd 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 116 amends the Auditor General Act to give the Auditor General access to confidential information and documents, including those protected by legal privilege, from government ministries, agencies, and grant recipients.
Bill 116 changes the Auditor General Act to expand what information the Auditor General can access when doing their job. Currently, government ministries, Crown agencies, Crown-controlled corporations, and organizations that receive government grants must give the Auditor General information they need to do audits. This bill changes the law to make clear that this duty to provide information applies even when the documents or information would normally be kept secret or protected by legal privilege (such as lawyer-client conversations or settlement agreements). The bill also confirms that the Auditor General has the right to access all books, accounts, financial records, electronic data, reports, files, and other materials that they believe are needed to do their job, even if those materials are normally considered confidential, private, or protected by legal privilege. This means the Auditor General's access rights override other privacy and confidentiality rules that would normally protect such information.
- Repeals and replaces subsections 10(1) and 10(2) of the Auditor General Act
- Requires every ministry, Crown agency, Crown-controlled corporation, and grant recipient to provide information to the Auditor General that they believe is necessary to perform their duties, even if that information is confidential or protected by legal privilege
- Gives the Auditor General the right to free access to all books, accounts, financial records, electronic data, reports, files, and other materials belonging to or used by government ministries, Crown agencies, Crown-controlled corporations, and grant recipients, even if those materials are protected by privacy rights, confidentiality obligations, or legal privilege
- Explicitly overrides solicitor-client privilege, litigation privilege, settlement privilege, and public interest immunity when the Auditor General is seeking information needed to perform their audit duties
- Comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent
- Government ministries of Ontario
- Crown agencies
- Crown-controlled corporations
- Grant recipients (organizations that receive government grants)
- The Auditor General of Ontario
- Lawyers and legal advisors to government entities (whose attorney-client communications may now be accessed by the Auditor General)
- Every ministry, Crown agency, Crown-controlled corporation, and grant recipient is obligated to give the Auditor General information they believe is necessary to perform audit duties, even if that information is confidential or subject to legal privilege
- The Auditor General has the right to free access to all books, accounts, financial records, electronic data, reports, files, and other materials they believe are necessary to perform their duties, regardless of confidentiality or privilege restrictions
- The rights of privacy, confidentiality, and legal privilege are overridden when the Auditor General is seeking information necessary to perform their duties
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent (no specific date provided in the bill text, but the document shows Royal Assent has been granted as of the date this document was prepared)
- The bill text does not specify what happens if a government entity refuses to provide information or access to the Auditor General, or what enforcement mechanisms exist for non-compliance
- The bill does not explain how the Auditor General should balance their broad access rights with other legal duties (for example, if providing information would breach a legal obligation to a third party)
- The bill does not clarify whether the Auditor General can share privileged or confidential information obtained through their access powers with other parties, or whether it remains confidential
- The bill does not define 'grant recipient' and it is unclear whether all organizations receiving government money are covered or only certain types
- The practical impact on government operations and legal advice-seeking by government entities is not addressed in the bill
Expands the Auditor General's power to access information and documents from government entities and grant recipients by removing barriers that would normally protect information as confidential or privileged. The Auditor General can now access information protected by solicitor-client privilege, litigation privilege, settlement privilege, and public interest immunity if they believe it is necessary to perform their audit duties.
Source: Section 1 of Bill 116 repeals and replaces subsections 10(1) and 10(2) of the Auditor General Act
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