Bill 34 explained in plain English
Pandemic Preparedness 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 34 amends Ontario's Health Protection and Promotion Act to require public health units to receive at least 75% provincial funding and to establish a committee that reviews the province's pandemic response plan every five years.
Bill 34 makes two main changes to how Ontario handles pandemic preparedness. First, it sets new rules for how public health units are funded. Starting when this bill becomes law, public health programs and services that are shared between the province and municipalities must be funded with at least 75% from Ontario and no more than 25% from municipalities. Second, it creates a Pandemic Preparedness Review Committee. The Minister of Health must appoint members to this committee, including public health experts, pandemic preparedness experts, and community leaders from equity-seeking groups. The committee will review Ontario's pandemic response plan every five years. The review will consider changes based on developments in local public health practice, developments in medical science and technology, and equity concerns. After each review, the committee reports its findings to the Minister. Within 90 days of receiving each report, the Minister must tell the Legislative Assembly what the committee found and recommend what the Government of Ontario should do about it. Both the funding changes and the committee's operations depend on the Legislature approving money for these purposes.
- Amends the Health Protection and Promotion Act to set provincial and municipal funding proportions for cost-shared public health unit programs and services
- Requires that municipal funding of public health units shall not exceed 25% of total funding
- Requires that the Province of Ontario shall provide at least 75% of funding for cost-shared public health unit programs and services
- Establishes a Pandemic Preparedness Review Committee to be appointed by the Minister of Health
- Requires the committee to include public health experts, pandemic preparedness experts, and community leaders from equity-seeking groups
- Requires the committee to review Ontario's pandemic response plan every five years
- Requires the committee to consider changes to the pandemic response plan based on developments in local public health practice, medical science and technology, and equity considerations
- Requires the committee to report its findings to the Minister of Health five years after the section comes into force and every five years thereafter
- Requires the Minister of Health to inform the Legislative Assembly of the committee's findings and make recommendations for implementation within 90 days of each report
- The Province of Ontario (as funder of public health units)
- Municipalities in Ontario (as co-funders of public health units)
- Public health units across Ontario (recipients of provincial and municipal funding)
- Public health experts appointed to the Pandemic Preparedness Review Committee
- Pandemic preparedness experts appointed to the Pandemic Preparedness Review Committee
- Community leaders from equity-seeking groups appointed to the committee
- The Minister of Health (responsible for establishing the committee and reporting to the Legislative Assembly)
- The Ontario Legislative Assembly (receives reports on pandemic response plan reviews)
- The Province of Ontario must fund at least 75% of cost-shared public health unit programs and services (subject to appropriation)
- Municipalities cannot fund more than 25% of cost-shared public health unit programs and services
- The Minister of Health must establish a Pandemic Preparedness Review Committee with members appointed from public health experts, pandemic preparedness experts, and community leaders from equity-seeking groups
- The committee must review Ontario's pandemic response plan every five years
- The committee must consider changes based on developments in local public health practice, medical science and technology, and equity
- The committee must report findings to the Minister five years after the section comes into force and every five years thereafter
- The Minister must inform the Legislative Assembly of the committee's findings and make recommendations for implementation within 90 days of each report
- This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent
- The Pandemic Preparedness Review Committee shall report five years after the day section 95.1 comes into force, and every five years thereafter
- The Minister of Health shall inform the Legislative Assembly of the Review Committee's findings and make recommendations within 90 days of each report
- The Province of Ontario must provide at least 75% of funding for cost-shared public health unit programs and services (subject to Legislative appropriation)
- The bill states that the funding requirements in section 77.0.1 do not apply unless money has been appropriated by the Legislature
- The bill states that the remuneration and expenses of committee members do not apply unless money has been appropriated by the Legislature
- The bill does not specify who the public health experts, pandemic preparedness experts, or community leaders are or how they will be selected beyond being 'appointed by the Minister'
- The bill does not define what specific changes to the pandemic response plan the committee should recommend or what criteria the Government of Ontario should use in deciding whether to implement those recommendations
- The bill does not specify what happens if the Legislature does not appropriate money for the funding changes or committee operations - the provisions simply do not apply
- The bill does not specify the size of the committee
- The bill does not specify what constitutes an 'equity-seeking group'
- The bill does not indicate whether the committee's recommendations are binding or advisory
- The bill does not specify procedures for the committee's operations, meetings, or voting
The bill adds two new sections to this Act. Section 77.0.1 sets funding proportions for cost-shared public health programs (75% provincial, maximum 25% municipal). Section 95.1 establishes the Pandemic Preparedness Review Committee and its responsibilities.
Source: Sections 77.0.1 and 95.1
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
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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.
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