Bill 93 explained in plain English
Getting Ontario Connected 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
This Act amends Ontario's broadband and underground infrastructure laws to streamline broadband project deployment by giving the Minister broader powers over energy distributors, requiring data sharing from utilities, establishing a dedicated locator system for major projects, and creating administrative penalties for non-compliance.
Bill 93, the Getting Ontario Connected Act, 2022, makes changes to two Ontario laws to help speed up the deployment of high-speed internet (broadband) projects across the province. The Act amends the Building Broadband Faster Act, 2021 and the Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, 2012. **Key changes include:** 1. **Minister's power over energy distributors and transmitters**: The Minister can now order electricity and gas distributors or transmitters to complete work needed for broadband projects. Previously, the Minister could only do this in limited circumstances. Now the Minister can issue orders in more situations, such as when there is a disagreement about whether a distributor has met a deadline. 2. **Data sharing from utilities**: Companies that own or operate water, sewage, electricity, gas, or communications infrastructure must provide the Minister with information about their infrastructure within 10 metres of a broadband project within 15 business days of being asked. This data can only be used to help build broadband projects. 3. **Municipal access timelines**: Municipalities must respond to broadband project applications for road access within 10 or 15 business days, depending on the size of the project. This creates a faster approval process. 4. **Dedicated locator system**: For large broadband projects, instead of many separate companies identifying underground infrastructure separately, one dedicated person (a "dedicated locator") will do this work for the entire project. This person must be agreed upon by the project owner and affected utility companies within 10 business days. 5. **Stronger rules for locating underground infrastructure**: The Act creates clearer rules about how and when underground infrastructure must be located before excavation. It requires affected utility companies and excavators to notify Ontario One Call (a call system) about their activities. 6. **Administrative penalties**: The Act creates a system where an assessor appointed by Ontario One Call can issue orders for companies or individuals to pay administrative penalties (fines up to $10,000) if they break the rules. People can appeal these penalties. 7. **Changes to Ontario One Call governance**: The Minister now has more control over the board of Ontario One Call (the corporation that runs the call system). The Minister can appoint board members and set board size and composition. 8. **Offences and penalties**: The Act creates criminal offences for breaking the rules, with fines up to $10,000 for individuals and entities, and up to $100,000 per day for Ontario One Call itself if it knowingly breaks the law. **When does it take effect?** Most of the Act took effect on the day it received Royal Assent, which was April 14, 2022. Some specific provisions (related to locating underground infrastructure and the dedicated locator system) were set to come into force on a date to be announced by the Lieutenant Governor in Council (a future proclamation).
- Expands the Minister's power to order electricity and gas distributors or transmitters to complete work necessary for broadband project deployment
- Requires utilities to share data about their infrastructure within 10 metres of designated broadband projects to the Minister within 15 business days
- Establishes timelines for municipalities to respond to broadband project applications for road access (10-15 business days depending on project scope)
- Creates a dedicated locator system where a single agreed-upon person locates underground infrastructure for major broadband projects instead of multiple separate locators
- Establishes that broadband project proponents must comply with the Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act when conducting excavations
- Clarifies rules for when project owners must notify Ontario One Call about their projects and how dedicated locators must respond to location requests
- Creates an administrative penalty system allowing appointed assessors to issue penalty orders up to $10,000 for contraventions of the Act or regulations
- Establishes offences and fines for breaking the Act's rules (up to $10,000 for individuals and entities; up to $100,000 per day for the Corporation)
- Gives the Minister greater control over Ontario One Call's board composition and governance
- Revokes Ontario Regulation 92/14 (Governance of the Corporation)
- Requires Ontario One Call and the Minister to enter into a memorandum of understanding covering governance, insurance, and other matters
- Eliminates fees charged by Ontario One Call for locate requests
- Creates new requirements for municipalities to provide consent for broadband projects within specified timelines
- Establishes rules for excavator conduct, including prohibitions on submitting standard locate requests more than 30 days before excavation and on improper emergency locate requests
- Broadband project proponents (companies or entities seeking to deploy broadband infrastructure)
- Electricity distributors and transmitters (including utilities like Hydro One Inc., Ontario Power Generation Inc., and local distribution companies)
- Gas distributors and transmitters
- Municipalities (required to approve broadband project applications within specified timelines)
- Excavators (persons conducting excavation or digging work)
- Members of Ontario One Call (utility companies that own or operate underground infrastructure)
- Ontario One Call Corporation (the operator of the call system for locating underground infrastructure)
- Dedicated locators (persons appointed to locate underground infrastructure for major projects)
- Utility companies that own or operate water, sewage, communications, or energy infrastructure
- Members of the Ontario One Call board of directors
- The Minister responsible for broadband infrastructure
- Broadband project proponents must comply with the Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act when carrying out excavations or digs for designated broadband projects (Schedule 1, section 7)
- Utility companies must share data about their infrastructure within 10 metres of designated broadband projects with the Minister within 15 business days of a request (Schedule 1, section 20.1)
- Municipalities must respond to broadband project applications for municipal service and right of way access within 10 business days (for projects requiring 30 km or less access) or 15 business days (for projects requiring more than 30 km) (Schedule 1, section 10.1)
- Project owners and affected utility members must agree on a dedicated locator within 10 business days for designated broadband projects (Schedule 1, section 21(2) and Schedule 2, section 7(7))
- Dedicated locators must respond to locate requests within 10 business days or a different time limit agreed upon in writing (Schedule 2, section 7(10))
- Members must notify Ontario One Call within three business days after responding to a locate request (Schedule 2, section 14(1))
- Members must provide accurate locate information within the specified timelines (Schedule 2, section 6)
- Excavators must not commence excavation until all required locate information is provided and must ensure ground markings do not conflict with written information (Schedule 2, section 10)
- Excavators must not submit a standard locate request more than 30 days before excavation is expected to commence (Schedule 2, section 12(1))
- Ontario One Call must not charge fees for locate requests (Schedule 2, section 5)
- The Minister may require energy distributors or transmitters to complete work necessary for broadband deployment (Schedule 1, section 2)
- Members and excavators can claim compensation from each other for specific losses resulting from contraventions (Schedule 2, sections 16 and 17)
- Administrative penalties up to $10,000 can be imposed for prescribed contraventions, with appeal rights to a designated appeal body (Schedule 2, sections 17.1-17.3)
- April 14, 2022: Royal Assent received and most of the Act came into force
- Schedule 1 (Building Broadband Faster Act amendments): Came into force on April 14, 2022
- Schedule 2 (Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act amendments): Most provisions came into force on April 14, 2022. However, subsections 1(2), 6(2) to (5), and section 7 (relating to dedicated locators and locate request procedures) were set to come into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor
- Utility companies and other entities must bear the cost of sharing data about their infrastructure when requested by the Minister (Schedule 1, section 20.1)
- Project owners must bear the costs of the dedicated locator appointed for their projects (Schedule 2, section 7(14))
- Ontario One Call is no longer permitted to charge fees to persons submitting locate requests (Schedule 2, section 5)
- Administrative penalties up to $10,000 can be imposed on members or excavators for prescribed contraventions (Schedule 2, section 17.2(4))
- Electricity and gas distributors or transmitters may be ordered by the Minister to complete work at their own cost for broadband project deployment (Schedule 1, section 2)
- Persons found to have contravened the Act or regulations (other than through administrative penalties) can be fined up to $10,000 (Schedule 2, section 18)
- Criminal offence for any person or entity (other than Ontario One Call) who contravenes or fails to comply with any section of the Act or regulations, with a fine of up to $10,000 (Schedule 2, section 18)
- Criminal offence for Ontario One Call if it knowingly contravenes the Act or regulations, with a fine of up to $100,000 for each day or part of a day on which the offence occurs or continues (Schedule 2, section 19(1))
- Criminal offence for directors, officers, employees or agents of Ontario One Call who knowingly contravene the Act or regulations (Schedule 2, section 19(2))
- Criminal offence for directors or officers who knowingly cause, authorize, permit or participate in Ontario One Call committing an offence, or fail to take reasonable care to prevent such an offence, with a fine of up to $25,000 for each day or part of a day (Schedule 2, section 19(3) and (4))
- Administrative penalties up to $10,000 imposed by an assessor for contravention of prescribed provisions, with appeal rights within 15 days (Schedule 2, sections 17.2 and 17.3)
- Non-application of the Statutory Powers Procedure Act to assessor decisions and appeals (unless the appeal body is not the Tribunal) (Schedule 2, sections 17.2(11) and 17.3(5))
- Court enforcement of unpaid administrative penalty orders filed with the Superior Court of Justice (Schedule 2, section 17.5)
- Compensation claims between excavators and utility members for specific losses (Schedule 2, sections 16 and 17)
- The precise date when provisions regarding dedicated locators and locate request procedures will come into force was not specified in the Act; instead, it was set to come into force 'on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor' (Schedule 2, section 9(2))
- The bill text does not specify which persons or entities will be designated as 'prescribed' for various regulatory purposes, leaving some details to be determined by future regulations
- The definition of 'designated broadband project' is not provided in this Act but instead is cross-referenced to section 2 of the Building Broadband Faster Act, 2021, which is not included in the provided text
- The specific criteria, methods, and circumstances for administrative penalties will be determined by regulations made by the Minister, which have not yet been specified (Schedule 2, section 21(h))
- The appeal body for administrative penalties is to be 'prescribed by the Minister or, if no person is prescribed by the Minister, the Tribunal' - the identity of the appeal body was not yet determined at the time of enactment (Schedule 2, section 1)
- The circumstances under which the time limits for locating infrastructure can be shortened or lengthened are not specified in the Act itself but will be determined by Minister's regulations (Schedule 2, section 21(e))
- The bill does not provide the full text of all related Acts being amended (such as the Building Broadband Faster Act, 2021 itself), so some context is missing
- The specific data sharing requirements and formats are not detailed in the Act but will be determined by the Minister's requests (Schedule 1, section 20.1(2))
The Act is amended to expand the Minister's power to require energy distributors and transmitters to complete work for broadband projects, establish timelines for municipal approval of broadband project applications, require data sharing from utilities about infrastructure, and establish rules for dedicated locators and excavation conduct for broadband projects.
Source: Schedule 1
The Act is amended to give the Minister more control over Ontario One Call's board, establish a dedicated locator system for certain projects, create rules for locate requests and excavation conduct, establish administrative penalties for non-compliance, eliminate fees for locate requests, require data sharing to the Minister, and establish offences with associated fines.
Source: Schedule 2
This regulation governing Ontario One Call's governance is repealed and replaced by new provisions in the Act itself that give the Minister more direct control.
Source: Schedule 2, section 8
The Act references the Ontario Energy Board Act in provisions allowing the Minister to require distributors and transmitters to complete work when the Energy Board has made an order or when a distributor has not met a requirement under that Act.
Source: Schedule 1, sections 2 and 8
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.
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Vote Summary
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Official sources
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