Bill 77 explained in plain English
Supply Act, 2023
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 77 authorizes the Ontario government to spend a total of approximately $181.7 billion from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023 for operating expenses, capital investments, and legislative office costs.
Bill 77 is a "Supply Act" that gives the Ontario government permission to spend money that was needed during the fiscal year from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. The bill authorizes spending in three categories: (1) approximately $175.8 billion for the day-to-day operating expenses and capital purchases of government ministries and services (such as health, education, and transportation); (2) approximately $5.6 billion for investments in capital assets, loans, and other investments by government ministries; and (3) approximately $310.5 million for the expenses of the Legislative Offices (including the Assembly, Auditor General, Chief Electoral Officer, and Ombudsman Ontario). The bill breaks down the authorized spending by ministry in detailed schedules. This bill automatically repeals itself on April 1, 2024, and also repeals two earlier interim appropriation acts from 2021 and 2022 that were temporary measures during the same fiscal year. The bill is deemed to have come into force retroactively on April 1, 2022.
- Authorizes total spending of approximately $175.8 billion for public service expenses (operating and capital) for the fiscal year April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023
- Authorizes total spending of approximately $5.6 billion for public service investments in capital assets, loans, and other investments for the same fiscal year
- Authorizes total spending of approximately $310.5 million for Legislative Office expenses for the same fiscal year
- Specifies how authorized amounts are allocated across 25 government ministries and four legislative offices via detailed schedules
- Allows expenditures to be paid from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or recognized as non-cash expenses and non-cash investments
- Permits any ministry responsible for a program or activity to incur authorized expenditures
- Repeals this Act on April 1, 2024
- Repeals the Interim Appropriation for 2022-2023 Act, 2021 and the Supplementary Interim Appropriation for 2022-2023 Act, 2022
- Is deemed to have come into force on April 1, 2022
- Ontario government ministries that receive appropriations to deliver public services (25 ministries listed including Health, Education, Social Services, Attorney General, Transportation, etc.)
- Legislative Offices including the Assembly, Auditor General, Chief Electoral Officer, and Ombudsman Ontario
- The Crown (Ontario government) as the entity authorized to spend public funds
- The public, who depend on government services funded through these appropriations
- Government employees and contractors whose salaries, programs, and services are funded through these appropriations
- The Crown has the authority to pay out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund the authorized amounts for public service expenses, investments, and legislative office expenses
- Government ministries have the right to incur authorized expenditures through whichever ministry has been given responsibility for that program or activity during the fiscal year
- Spending must be limited to the authorized amounts specified in the bill and may not exceed those ceilings
- Expenditures must be applied in accordance with the votes and items of the estimates as set out in the schedules to this bill
- Fiscal year covered: April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023
- Bill given Royal Assent: March 22, 2023
- Deemed commencement date: April 1, 2022 (retroactive)
- Self-repeal date: April 1, 2024
- Authorizes payment of approximately $175.8 billion from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for public service operating expenses and capital purchases
- Authorizes payment of approximately $5.6 billion from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for public service investments in capital assets, loans, and other investments
- Authorizes payment of approximately $310.5 million from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for Legislative Office expenses
- Total authorized spending from public funds: approximately $181.7 billion for the fiscal year April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023
- The bill text does not explain what specific programs, services, or activities each ministry's allocation is intended to cover beyond referring to 'estimates'
- The bill does not specify what circumstances might permit spending in excess of the authorized amounts
- The bill does not detail what constitutes 'expenses of the public service' beyond references to the estimates and votes
- The bill does not explain the transition or consequences when it self-repeals on April 1, 2024, or what appropriation mechanism covers spending after that date
- The bill does not specify how funds are allocated between operating and capital purposes within each ministry's total
- The bill text is silent on audit, reporting, or accountability mechanisms related to this spending authorization
Bill 77 itself is repealed on April 1, 2024, meaning it stops having legal effect on that date
Source: Section 4
This earlier temporary appropriation act is repealed by Bill 77, replacing it as the authorization for spending during the same fiscal year
Source: Section 5
This earlier supplementary appropriation act is repealed by Bill 77, consolidating multiple temporary spending authorizations into one
Source: Section 5
Bill 77 uses definitions of 'non-cash expense' and 'non-cash investment' from the Financial Administration Act to determine what types of expenses and investments can be authorized
Source: Section 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
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