Bill 3 explained in plain English
Stopping Anti-Public Health Harassment Act, 2021
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
This bill proposes to prohibit and penalize harassment related to the enforcement or adoption of public health measures for COVID-19 within designated "safe zones" in Ontario.
This bill, called the Stopping Anti-Public Health Harassment Act, 2021, proposes to make it illegal to harass people who are enforcing or following public health guidelines related to COVID-19. This would apply within designated "safe zones." The bill outlines specific actions that would be prohibited, such as advising someone not to follow guidelines or expressing disapproval of them. There are exceptions for work-related activities and for someone accompanying another person accessing goods or services. The bill also states that it does not prevent peaceful protests or labour demonstrations. If passed, it would create an offence for contravening these prohibitions, with a potential fine of up to $25,000. The Lieutenant Governor in Council would be able to define what constitutes a "safe zone" and specify other prohibited actions through regulations. The Act would come into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Prohibits specified behaviours that could be considered harassment towards individuals enforcing or following public health guidelines related to COVID-19.
- These prohibitions would apply within "safe zones" that can be established by regulation.
- Creates an offence for contravening these prohibitions.
- Sets a maximum fine of $25,000 for convictions.
- Clarifies that the bill does not affect peaceful protests or labour demonstrations.
- Empowers the Lieutenant Governor in Council to make regulations to define "safe zones" and prescribe further prohibited actions.
- Individuals who might harass others regarding public health measures.
- Individuals who are enforcing or following public health guidelines.
- The general public, particularly within designated "safe zones."
- The Lieutenant Governor in Council (regarding regulation-making power).
- Individuals are prohibited from engaging in specific harassing behaviours in safe zones concerning public health guidelines.
- Individuals have the right to engage in peaceful protests or labour demonstrations.
- The Act would come into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Convicted individuals are liable for a fine of not more than $25,000.
- Contravention of Section 1 of the Act is an offence.
- Individuals convicted of an offence are liable to a fine of not more than $25,000.
- The specific areas that will be designated as "safe zones" are not defined in the bill and will be established through future regulations.
- The bill does not specify what constitutes "harassing behaviours" beyond the specific examples listed.
- The bill does not specify which public health guidelines related to COVID-19 are covered.
- The bill does not specify the process for establishing these regulations or when they might be enacted.
- The bill does not specify any enforcement mechanisms beyond the prescribed fines.
This Act would create new prohibitions and offences related to harassment concerning public health measures for COVID-19.
Source: Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
The Lieutenant Governor in Council would be able to create regulations to define "safe zones" and specify further actions that are prohibited under this Act.
Source: Section 4
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