Bill 39 explained in plain English
Notwithstanding Clause Limitation Act, 2025
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, titled the Notwithstanding Clause Limitation Act, 2025, aims to restrict the use of the notwithstanding clause in Ontario by establishing specific conditions for its application and requiring greater legislative and reporting scrutiny.
This bill proposes to limit how the notwithstanding clause (Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms) can be used in Ontario. It states that a bill cannot declare an Ontario law to operate despite the Charter, except in specific emergency situations related to urgent threats to life, health, or safety, where a court has already found a law to violate the Charter. If a minister introduces a bill using the notwithstanding clause, the Attorney General must table a report in the Legislative Assembly explaining why its use is justified and why other options were not suitable. Additionally, any bill that uses the notwithstanding clause requires a two-thirds majority vote from the Legislative Assembly to be adopted.
- It would enact the Notwithstanding Clause Limitation Act, 2025.
- It would generally prohibit bills in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from including a declaration that an Ontario law operates notwithstanding the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
- It would create specific circumstances under which such a declaration is permitted: if the bill addresses an urgent and critical temporary situation endangering lives, health, or safety, amends an Act with a court-found Charter contravention, and the declaration is for that specific contravening provision.
- It would require the Attorney General to table a report in the Legislative Assembly for any bill introduced by a minister that uses the notwithstanding clause, detailing its justification and rejected alternatives.
- It would stipulate that any bill containing a notwithstanding clause declaration cannot be adopted by the Legislative Assembly without the approval of at least two-thirds of its members.
- It states that the Act will come into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The Legislative Assembly of Ontario
- Ministers of the Crown in Ontario
- The Attorney General of Ontario
- Ontarians (in relation to potential laws passed using the notwithstanding clause)
- The Attorney General is obligated to table a report in the Legislative Assembly under specific circumstances (Section 2(2)).
- Bills using the notwithstanding clause require a two-thirds majority for adoption (Section 3).
- The use of the notwithstanding clause is restricted except in specific defined circumstances (Section 1).
- The Act will come into force on the day it receives Royal Assent. (Section 4)
- The bill does not specify what constitutes an 'urgent and critical situation of a temporary nature that seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Ontarians'.
- The bill does not define what constitutes a 'demonstrably justified' use of the notwithstanding clause in a free and democratic society, beyond requiring the Attorney General's report.
- The bill does not explicitly detail the process or criteria by which the Legislative Assembly would determine if a two-thirds majority has been met for adopting a bill with a notwithstanding clause declaration.
The bill proposes to limit how section 33 (the notwithstanding clause) of the Charter can be invoked in relation to Ontario laws passed by the Legislative Assembly.
Source: Section 1(1)
Ontario laws would generally not be able to include a declaration that they operate despite provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, except under specific conditions outlined in the bill.
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.
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Vote Summary
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No published representative vote breakdown
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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.
How this data is sourced