Bill 133 explained in plain English
Health Care Honours, Employment, Retention, Optimization and Empowerment Strategy 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
This bill mandates the creation of a health care worker support strategy by the Minister of Health, amends the Public Hospitals Act to extend medical staff appointment terms, and introduces penalties for missed deadlines.
This bill, titled the Health Care Honours, Employment, Retention, Optimization and Empowerment Strategy Act, 2026, aims to improve the working lives of health care workers in Ontario. It requires the Minister of Health to create and publish a strategy addressing various aspects of health care employment, including recruitment, job satisfaction, safety, and recognition. The bill also includes provisions for reporting, potential financial penalties for missed deadlines, and makes amendments to the Public Hospitals Act regarding the length of appointments for hospital medical staff. The strategy must include detailed plans for collecting data on the health care workforce, surveying workers, addressing wage parity, recognizing contributions, and improving working conditions. The bill also specifies elements for mental health support, workplace standards, recruitment practices, and administrative burden reduction for health care workers. The Public Hospitals Act will be amended to change the maximum term of appointments to a hospital's medical staff from one year to three years.
- Requires the Minister of Health to develop and publish a health care worker support strategy.
- Specifies the required elements of the health care worker support strategy, including data collection, worker surveys, wage parity, recognition programs, and improved working conditions.
- Mandates a review of the strategy every four years, with public consultation.
- Requires the Minister of Health to report to the Legislative Assembly on the progress of disbursing retroactive payments to health care workers that were impacted by the Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019.
- Establishes financial penalties for the Minister of Health and the Premier if deadlines outlined in the Act are missed.
- Grants the Lieutenant Governor in Council the power to make regulations related to the Act.
- Amends the Public Hospitals Act to increase the maximum term of appointments to the medical staff of a hospital from one year to three years.
- Health care workers in Ontario
- Minister of Health
- Premier of Ontario
- Hospitals
- Patients
- The Minister of Health is obligated to develop and publish a health care worker support strategy within six months of the Act receiving Royal Assent.
- The strategy must include specific elements related to recruitment, retention, well-being, safety, and recognition of health care workers.
- The Minister of Health must table a report in the Legislative Assembly on the progress of disbursing retroactive payments to health care workers.
- The Minister of Health and the Premier are obligated to pay a financial penalty if deadlines under the Act are missed.
- Health care workers have rights to collective bargaining, fair compensation, and improved working conditions as outlined in the strategy.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The Minister must develop and publish the strategy on or before the day that is six months after the Act receives Royal Assent.
- The Minister must table a report on retroactive payments within one month after the Act receives Royal Assent.
- The strategy must be reviewed and amended, if necessary, on or before the fourth anniversary of the Act receiving Royal Assent and every four years thereafter.
- Payments of financial penalties must be made within 30 days after the deadline that was not met.
- The Minister of Health and the Premier are subject to a financial penalty equal to 10 per cent of their annual salary if they miss a deadline under the Act. This penalty must be paid personally.
- The strategy includes plans for wage parity and raising wages to competitive levels for health care workers.
- The strategy proposes fully funded mental health care lines and therapy pathways through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan.
- The strategy proposes providing safe and secure parking for health care workers at no additional cost.
- The strategy proposes reducing administrative burdens and streamlining employment requirements, which may have indirect financial implications for employers and workers.
- If the Minister of Health or the Premier misses a deadline under this Act, they must personally pay a penalty equal to 10 per cent of the Minister's annual salary into the Consolidated Revenue Fund. The Premier must pay a penalty equal to 10 per cent of their annual salary.
- The definition of 'high-risk environment' is to be set out in regulations, which are not yet available.
- The specific details of many proposed elements within the health care worker support strategy, such as the exact framework for collecting statistics, the method for the annual survey, and the specific recognition programs, are to be prescribed by regulations or determined through the development of the strategy itself.
- The extent to which the proposed strategy will be implemented and its ultimate effectiveness are not determined by the bill text.
Increases the maximum term for appointments to the medical staff of a hospital from one year to three years.
Source: Section 6
Changes the maximum length of time a person can be appointed to a hospital's medical staff from one year to three years.
Source: Section 6
Establishes the requirement for the Minister of Health to create and publish a health care worker support strategy, including specific elements and review processes, and sets forth financial penalties for missed deadlines.
Source: Sections 2, 3, 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.
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