Bill 19 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 43rd 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
Bill 19 expands the Ontario Auditor General's authority to access information and documents held by government entities, even if those materials are normally confidential or protected by legal privilege.
Bill 19 amends Ontario's Auditor General Act to expand the Auditor General's ability to access information held by government ministries, Crown agencies, Crown-controlled corporations, and grant recipients. The bill makes two key changes to section 10 of the Act. First, it requires these organizations to provide the Auditor General with any information they believe is necessary to do their job, even if that information is normally protected as confidential or by legal privilege (such as lawyer-client communications). Second, it gives the Auditor General the right to freely access all books, accounts, financial records, electronic data, reports, files and other materials belonging to or used by these organizations, even if those materials would normally be protected by privacy rights, confidentiality agreements, legal privileges, or public interest immunity. The law comes into force immediately upon receiving Royal Assent.
- Amends subsection 10(1) of the Auditor General Act to require ministries of the public service, Crown agencies, Crown-controlled corporations, and grant recipients to provide the Auditor General with information about their powers, duties, activities, organization, financial transactions and methods of business that the Auditor General considers necessary to perform their duties
- Specifies that this duty to furnish information applies even if the information or documents are confidential or subject to solicitor-client privilege, litigation privilege, or settlement privilege
- Amends subsection 10(2) of the Auditor General Act to give the Auditor General free access to all books, accounts, financial records, electronic data processing records, reports, files and other papers, things or property belonging to or used by ministries, Crown agencies, Crown-controlled corporations, or grant recipients
- Specifies that this access right applies despite any other rights of privacy, confidentiality or privilege, including solicitor-client privilege, litigation privilege, settlement privilege and public interest immunity
- Establishes that the changes come into force on the day the Act receives Royal Assent
- Ontario Auditor General — gains expanded authority to require disclosure of information and access to records
- Ministries of the public service — must provide the Auditor General with any information they request and provide access to their records, even if confidential or privileged
- Crown agencies — must comply with the Auditor General's information and access requests, even if information is confidential or privileged
- Crown-controlled corporations — must provide information and records to the Auditor General as requested, even if confidential or privileged
- Grant recipients — must provide the Auditor General with information about their activities and operations as requested, even if confidential or privileged
- Government ministries, Crown agencies, Crown-controlled corporations, and grant recipients must give the Auditor General information about their powers, duties, activities, organization, financial transactions and methods of business that the Auditor General deems necessary
- This obligation applies regardless of whether the information is confidential or protected by solicitor-client privilege, litigation privilege, or settlement privilege
- The Auditor General has the right to access all books, accounts, financial records, electronic data, reports, files and other materials used by these organizations that the Auditor General considers necessary
- This access right exists despite privacy rights, confidentiality agreements, legal privileges, and public interest immunity
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent (already received as of the bill status provided)
- The bill text does not specify what happens if an organization refuses to comply with an information or access request from the Auditor General
- The bill text does not define what constitutes 'grant recipient' or establish thresholds for which recipients are covered
- The bill does not clarify the scope of what the Auditor General 'believes to be necessary' to perform duties, which is a subjective standard
- The extent to which the Auditor General must demonstrate that information is necessary before requiring access is not detailed
- The bill text does not address how the Auditor General must handle or protect confidential or privileged information once obtained
Expands the Auditor General's authority to require information and access records from government entities by removing confidentiality and legal privilege protections as barriers to disclosure
The original provisions regarding the duty to furnish information and access to records are replaced with new language that explicitly states these obligations apply even when information is confidential or legally privileged
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