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OntarioIn Progress44th Parliament, 1st Session

Bill 59 explained in plain English

Rare Disease Strategy 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 59
Full title
Rare Disease Strategy Act, 2025
Current status
In Progress
Latest event
Ordered for Second Reading
Last updated
Oct 22, 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
Oct 22, 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

Bill 59 requires the Ontario government to implement recommendations from the 2017 Rare Diseases Working Group Report and to publicly report on progress until all recommendations are met.

What It Means

This bill, titled the Rare Disease Strategy Act, 2025, aims to implement the recommendations made in the 2017 Rare Diseases Working Group Report. It requires the Government of Ontario to put these recommendations into practice as soon as is feasible. Additionally, six months after the bill becomes law, and every six months thereafter until all recommendations are met, the government must publish updates on its website detailing which recommendations have been implemented and the progress on any outstanding ones. The bill also requires the government to post these updates regularly until all recommendations are fulfilled.

What This Bill Does
  • Amends the Health Protection and Promotion Act by adding a new section.
  • Requires the Government of Ontario to implement the recommendations from the Rare Diseases Working Group Report, dated March 10, 2017, as soon as practicable.
  • Mandates that six months after the bill comes into force, and every six months thereafter until all recommendations are implemented, the Government must post an update on its website.
  • Specifies that these website updates must detail which recommendations have been implemented and the steps being taken to implement any remaining ones.
  • States that the Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
Who Is Affected
  • The Government of Ontario
  • Individuals with rare diseases
  • The public
Rights, Duties, Or Obligations
  • The Government of Ontario is obligated to implement the recommendations of the Rare Diseases Working Group Report.
  • The Government of Ontario is obligated to post public updates on the implementation of these recommendations every six months.
  • The public has the right to access information on the implementation of these recommendations through a government website.
Important Dates
  • The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
  • The first public update on the website must be posted six months after the day the amendment comes into force.
  • Subsequent updates must be posted every six months thereafter until all recommendations are implemented.
Uncertainties Or Limits
  • The bill does not specify what actions the government must take if it fails to implement the recommendations or post the required updates.
  • The bill does not define what constitutes 'as soon as is practicable' for the implementation of the recommendations.
  • The bill does not detail the process for determining which recommendations have been 'implemented'.
Laws Or Regulations Affected
Health Protection and Promotion Act
amends

Adds a new section requiring the implementation of the Rare Diseases Working Group Report recommendations and public reporting on progress.

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 text

Process Snapshot

Step 1
First reading
Oct 22, 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
France Gélinas
New Democratic Party of Ontario | Nickel Belt
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