Bill 117 explained in plain English
Access (Assistance for Care, Commuting and Essential Specialized Services) Act, 2026
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 44th 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 117 enacts the Access (Assistance for Care, Commuting and Essential Specialized Services) Act, 2026, requiring the Minister of Health to examine establishing a grant program for travel expenses related to accessing specialized medical services not available locally and to report on funding.
This bill, if passed, would require the Ontario Minister of Health to look into creating a grant program. This program would help eligible Ontario residents pay for travel expenses when they need to see a medical specialist or get a medical procedure that is not available in their local area. The bill also requires the Minister to report back to the Legislative Assembly within six months of the bill becoming law, outlining the steps to fully fund the program.
- Requires the Minister of Health to examine the establishment of a grant program to help pay for travel-related expenses for eligible Ontarians who need to access specialized medical services or procedures not available in their local communities.
- Specifies the criteria for eligibility for these grants, including being an Ontario resident, having a referral from a primary care clinician, confirming costs are not covered by other programs, travelling at least 100 kilometres one-way, applying within 12 months of treatment, and providing original receipts.
- Requires the Minister of Health to table a report in the Legislative Assembly within six months of the Act coming into force.
- Requires the report to include the steps the Minister will take to ensure the grant program is fully funded within six months after the report is tabled.
- Eligible Ontario residents requiring access to medical specialists or procedures not available locally
- The Minister of Health
- The Legislative Assembly of Ontario
- The Minister of Health has the obligation to examine establishing a grant program for travel-related expenses.
- The Minister of Health has the obligation to table a report in the Assembly.
- Applicants have the right to be considered for grants if they meet eligibility criteria.
- Applicants have the obligation to provide confirmation that costs are not covered by other programs and to provide original receipts.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The Minister of Health must table a report within six months after the day this Act comes into force.
- The grant program is to be fully funded within six months after the report is tabled.
- Applications for grants must be made within 12 months after the date of treatment.
- The bill requires the Minister to examine fully funding the grant program, but the specific financial implications are not detailed beyond this requirement.
- The bill requires original receipts of costs incurred to be provided by applicants, implying financial expenditure by individuals.
- The bill states the Minister of Health shall 'examine establishing' a grant program, meaning the creation of the program is not guaranteed.
- The bill does not specify the amount of the grants or the total budget for the program.
- The exact nature and scope of 'necessary medical specialist services or procedures' are not defined in the bill.
- The bill does not specify what happens if the Minister does not table the report within the required timeframe or does not ensure the program is fully funded.
This bill creates a new Act with this title.
Source: Explanatory Note, Section 1(1), 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.
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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