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OntarioIn Progress44th Parliament, 1st Session

Bill 50 explained in plain English

No Free Ride for Fossil Fuels Act, 2025

Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.

At a glance

Jurisdiction
Ontario Legislature
Legislature / Parliament
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Session
44th Parliament, 1st Session
Bill number
Bill 50
Full title
No Free Ride for Fossil Fuels Act, 2025
Current status
In Progress
Latest event
Ordered for Second Reading
Last updated
Jun 4, 2025

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.

Chamber
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Current Stage
Ordered for Second Reading
Latest Activity
Jun 4, 2025
Plain-language explanation
In plain English (our explanation)

Our plain-language take, written for civic education.

Source: By PoliticalData.ca

AI-assisted, reviewed before publishing
Short Version

The No Free Ride for Fossil Fuels Act, 2025, would enable Ontario municipalities to charge fees to specific natural gas companies for their use of municipal infrastructure.

What It Means

This bill, titled the No Free Ride for Fossil Fuels Act, 2025, proposes to allow municipalities in Ontario to charge fees to certain natural gas companies. Specifically, it would permit municipalities and the City of Toronto to impose fees on producers, distributors, transmitters, and storage companies of natural gas for services, costs, or the use of property related to their infrastructure located on municipal highways. The bill also includes provisions to prevent regulations from limiting this new fee-charging power. The Act would come into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

What This Bill Does
  • Grants municipalities and the City of Toronto the power to impose fees on natural gas producers, distributors, transmitters, and storage companies.
  • Specifies that these fees can be for services, costs payable, or the use of property related to gas infrastructure on municipal highways.
  • Amends legislation to ensure that regulations cannot restrict this newly granted power to charge fees.
  • States that the Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
Who Is Affected
  • Municipalities in Ontario
  • The City of Toronto
  • Local boards in Ontario
  • Producers of natural gas
  • Gas distributors
  • Gas transmitters
  • Natural gas storage companies
Rights, Duties, Or Obligations
  • Municipalities and the City of Toronto gain the right to impose fees on certain natural gas companies.
  • Natural gas companies are subject to potential new fees imposed by municipalities and the City of Toronto.
Important Dates
  • The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
Financial Or Tax Impacts
  • Municipalities and the City of Toronto may collect new fees from specified natural gas companies.
  • The specified natural gas companies may incur new costs due to these fees.
Uncertainties Or Limits
  • The specific amounts or calculation methods for the fees are not detailed in the bill text.
  • The full scope of 'services or activities, costs payable or the use of property' that can be charged for is not exhaustively listed.
Laws Or Regulations Affected
Municipal Act, 2001
amends

Adds a new subsection that allows a municipality or local board to impose fees or charges on specific natural gas companies (producers, distributors, transmitters, storage companies) for services, costs, or the use of property related to their infrastructure on municipal highways.

Source: Section 1

Municipal Act, 2001
amends

Adds a new subsection stating that regulations made under the Act cannot limit the municipality's or local board's power to impose the new fees described for gas services and activities.

Source: Section 2

City of Toronto Act, 2006
amends

Adds a new subsection that allows the City of Toronto or a local board to impose fees or charges on specific natural gas companies (producers, distributors, transmitters, storage companies) for services, costs, or the use of property related to their infrastructure on municipal highways.

Source: Section 3

City of Toronto Act, 2006
amends

Adds a new subsection stating that regulations made under the Act cannot limit the City of Toronto's or its local board's power to impose the new fees described for gas services and activities.

Source: Section 4

Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998
references

Defines terms such as 'producer', 'gas distributor', 'gas transmitter', and 'storage company' that are used in the proposed amendments to the Municipal Act, 2001, and the City of Toronto Act, 2006.

Source: Sections 1 and 3

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 text

Process Snapshot

Step 1
First reading
Jun 4, 2025
Step 2
Second reading
Date not listed
Step 3
Committee review
Not reached yet
Step 4
Third reading
Not reached yet
Step 5
Royal assent
Not reached yet

Vote Summary

No published recorded division

This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.

Sponsor
Mike Schreiner
Green Party of Ontario | Guelph
Jurisdiction
Ontario Legislature

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