NEWS RELEASE
GOVERNMENT OF ONTARIO
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The following legislation, regulation and fee changes will be in effect January 1, 2025. They are listed by responsible ministry.
Ministry of the Attorney General
To streamline government processes, Ontario is bringing amendments to the Legislation Act, 2006 into force on January 1, 2025. The amendments mean that only an Order in Council (OIC) is needed to bring a statute into force on a later date (i.e., for statutes that do not come into force immediately upon being passed into law) and not a proclamation by the Lieutenant Governor. These commencement OICs will also be published on e-Laws, improving public accessibility and transparency.
Ontario is amending regulations under the Cannabis Licence Act, 2018 to reduce costs and red tape for authorized cannabis retailers who plan to sell their business and transfer their retail store authorization to another authorized retailer. Changes will streamline current licensing processes by reducing the time it takes for retailers, many of which are small independent businesses, to purchase an existing store.
To better protect the safety of children, the Ontario government is amending the Cannabis Control Act, 2017 that prohibits the cultivation of recreational cannabis in licensed and unlicensed home-based child care settings. Convicted offenders would be subject to a fine of up to $1,000 for a first conviction and up to $5,000 for subsequent convictions. Corresponding amendments under the Provincial Offences Act will also allow police to issue tickets under these new rules.
Changes to the Architects Act will allow the Ontario Association of Architects to create a new limited license category called “Licensed Technologist”. Corresponding regulatory amendments will establish the academic, experience and examination requirements needed to obtain the new limited license, as well as outlining a specific scope of practice.
Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services
Ontario is further improving the safety of children and youth in care by amending regulations under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017, the Intercountry Adoption Act, 1998 and the Police Record Checks Reform Act, 2015, to establish consistent police record check requirements. The amendments will establish when and for whom these checks are required, the practices that must be followed and what information is disclosed in the process.
To strengthen oversight and quality of care for children in licensed out-of-home care, such as foster homes or group homes, the Ontario government is amending regulations under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act. Changes include clarifying the rules around discipline, maintaining records of financial arrangements regarding the care of a child, mandating that children’s aid societies provide information about child protection investigations to the ministry and expanding the definition of what constitutes an offence.
Further regulatory amendments under the Act will also improve oversight of children in care by requiring children’s aid societies to visit children in out-of-home care placements every 30 days, as well as conduct safety assessments, create safety plans and develop plans of care for children in adoption placements. These plans will also ensure a child’s specific needs and well-being are addressed when a society proposes to place or has placed a child outside its territorial jurisdiction.
Ministry of Colleges and Universities
Through the Strengthening Accountability and Student Supports Act, 2024, Ontario is requiring every publicly assisted college and university in the province to establish clear policies to support student mental health, as well as address and prevent racism and hate on campus.
Ministry of Education
A new regulation under the Education Act strengthens school board accountability by establishing a transparent and consistent process on how all Ontario school boards address and resolve code of conduct complaints. Ontario also introduced mandatory provincial standards for local trustee codes of conduct. School boards are required to ensure their local codes of conduct are up-to-date and consistent with the new standards.
Ontario is building on its work to ensure all students have access to a supportive learning environment that fosters learning and success by updating the French-language terminology for special education in the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, 2023, the Education Act and the Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2001 and in 51 regulations under nine statutes.
As part of Ontario's ongoing efforts to introduce affordable, accessible child care, the government is capping child care fees at $22 per day for families with children in programs enrolled in the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care system. Once implemented, average child care fees in Ontario will be lowered to about $19 per day, a 59 per cent reduction compared to 2020 rates.
As a part of amendments to Ontario’s Building Code, the government is lowering the maximum temperature of hot water supplied to any sink, bathtub, or shower in child care facilities and provincial demonstration schools from 49⁰ to 43⁰ Celsius.
Ministry of Energy and Electrification
Ontario is helping reduce red tape and further modernize Ontario’s Efficiency Regulation by fully harmonizing Ontario’s requirements and efficiency metrics for an additional 42 products through rolling incorporation. This will ensure Ontario standards continue to be updated and remain aligned with Natural Resources Canada’s standards.
Ontario is providing a standardized billing solution for Local Distribution Companies to offer net-metered customers with their choice of regulated price plans such as tiered, ultra-low overnight or time of use rates. This will also provide the Independent Electricity System Operator with an enhanced smart metering dataset that can help improve energy forecasting and assess system needs in anticipation of increased electrification.
Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks
Ontario is removing a barrier so renewable natural gas (RNG) injected anywhere into Ontario’s natural gas pipeline system can be used to lower compliance obligations in the Emissions Performance Standards (EPS) program. An amendment to the GHG Reporting Regulation under the Environmental Protection Act now allows a facility to claim the benefits of injected RNG. In the past, the RNG had to be purchased and then delivered directly to the facility to qualify as an emissions reduction. Compared to the federal Output-based Pricing System, Ontario’s EPS program is estimated to save Ontario businesses about $1 billion by 2030.
Ontario is changing several Producer Responsibilities regulations under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016 to make it easier for producers of tires, batteries, electronics and hazardous products to meet their regulatory requirements while ensuring residents still have access to recycling services. These changes will allow for more flexibility in how waste is collected, while at the same time reducing unnecessary paperwork and costs for producers.
Ministry of Finance
Ontario is modernizing the administration and regulation of Ontario pension plans by implementing a permanent target benefit framework, establishing a funding concerns test, which helps protect pensioners who are members of certain jointly sponsored pension plans (JSPPs) and also removing a redundant disclosure requirement for these JSPPs.
An amendment to the Assessment Act will provide consistent property tax treatment for university-operated student housing. Also under the Assessment Act, gravel pits and quarries are getting their own property tax class, as of 2025.
Ontario is making changes to the Employer Health Tax Act to reduce the burden on taxpayers. It is applying the same filing and instalment requirement for all employers and allowing for refunds to be paid at any time if a request is made within 90 days of the assessment that gave rise to the refund request. Changes will also clarify the rules on how associated employers can determine if they meet the exemption threshold for a year starting after December 31, 2024.
Amendments to the Taxation Act, 2007 will extend eligibility of the Ontario Child Benefit for six months for families who have lost a child, matching the federal government’s Canada Child Benefit extension of eligibility.
Amendments will also provide a temporary reduction of the transfer tax rate to zero per cent for electricity assets transferred by all municipal electricity utilities, regardless of their number of customers, between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2028.
Ministry of Francophone Affairs
Ontario is amending a regulation under the French Language Services Act to reflect changes to the designation of 73 public service agencies. These changes include agency consolidations, program transfers, organizational name changes, as well as service expansions, aimed at making it easier for Ontarians to understand where French language services are available.
Ministry of Health
Ontario is amending regulations under the Health Protection and Promotion Act that will update and streamline Public Health reporting requirements to make it easier to report and address emerging public health issues, including communicable diseases. Requirements for public pools and spas are also being updated to clarify technical elements and to reduce burden for pool owners and address various other pool types, including cold plunge pools, floatation tanks, floatation pools and hot water pools.
Ontario is amending regulations under the Health Protection and Promotion Act to enact the voluntary mergers of nine local public health agencies (LPHAs) into four new consolidated LPHAs:
- Brant County Health Unit and Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit
- Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit and Peterborough County-City Health Unit
- Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit, Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Health Unit and the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit
- Porcupine Health Unit and Timiskaming Health Unit.
Changes to regulations under the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 will require accredited community pharmacies and Integrated Community Health Services Centres to submit additional data into the provincial Electronic Health Record, resulting in more complete and robust health data when people are connecting to various care providers.
Ontario is amending the Respiratory Therapy Act, 1991 to grant greater flexibility in the registration process for respiratory therapists and to align College requirements with other Canadian jurisdictions.
Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development
Ontario is working for workers with an amendment under the Ontario Immigration Act, 2015 that will crack down on fraudulent immigration representatives that exploit newcomers applying to the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program. These changes introduce new standards for immigration representatives and impose penalties on those who violate these standards in the form of fines, multi-year bans and lifetime bans.
To increase safety and privacy, changes to a regulation under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 removes the ministry’s requirement to publish the full business addresses of temporary help agency and recruiter applicants and licensees to Ontario.ca as these sometimes may be home addresses.
An amendment to a regulation under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 will level the playing field on how temporary employment agencies (TEAs) are assessed for premiums on clerical, administrative and other professional labour they supply to employers. TEAs will now be charged a premium for those workers according to the nature of their work, rather than the rate assigned to the client employer.
Ontario is encouraging inclusivity and supporting women in the skilled trades by amending a regulation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act to now require the construction sector to provide menstrual products for onsite crews of 20 or more workers and for construction projects expected to last three months or more.
A new regulatory amendment within the Occupational Health and Safety Act will protect workers and the public by strengthening and creating new requirements on design standards on how tower cranes are erected, dismantled and climbed, and for more comprehensive inspections of all tower cranes. This builds on amendments that came into force on January 1, 2024, to ensure equipment is installed, used, inspected and maintained in a way that better protects site workers and the public.
To better identify trade-related health and safety concerns on construction sites, Ontario is amending the Occupational Health and Safety Act to allow for greater oversight of Worker Trades Committees.
Ministry of Long-Term Care
To help ensure long-term residents are able to connect to the right care, in the right place, Ontario is amending O. Reg. 246/22 under the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021 to allow long-term care homes to arrange hybrid/virtual consultations with Registered Dietitians (RDs) when a dietitian cannot be found. Amendments also extend the staffing flexibility provision for personal support workers (PSWs) and staff providing personal support services in long-term care to January 1, 2026.
Ontario is also amending Ontario Regulation 246/22 under the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, to implement the ministry’s Cultural Pilot Project that will evaluate how changes to waitlist prioritization requirements can improve access to cultural, ethnic, religious and linguistically appropriate care.
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
As part of Ontario’s efforts to streamline planning approvals and get more homes built faster, changes to the Planning Act remove land use planning responsibilities from Durham and Waterloo regions, giving primary land use planning responsibility to local municipalities within these regions. A related regulation under the Planning Act exempts these local municipalities from requiring Minister’s approval on most official plan amendments.
Ontario made a new regulation under the Building Code Act, 1992 to streamline Ontario’s Building Code and reduce barriers between provinces by increasing harmonization between Ontario’s Building Code and the National Construction Codes. The government also amended that regulation to promote the use of more wood in construction, like mass timber, to help address affordability and support good-paying construction jobs.
To help ensure housing assistance is directed to those most in need of affordable housing, an amendment under the Housing Services Act, 2011 updates the Household Income Limits and High Need Income Limits to reflect the most recent data provided by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Ministry of Natural Resources
A regulation under the Conservation Authority Act provides clarity and transparency on when the Minister of Natural Resources can take over or launch a review on certain permitting processes normally handled by a Conservation Authority.
Changes to the hunting regulation under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act revise the penalty framework for hunters who don’t comply with mandatory reporting requirements to introduce a $50 penalty for two or more consecutive failures to report for a given species after July 1, 2026.
Changes to the trapping regulation under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act update the design specifications of relaxing cable restraints used for trapping coyotes and wolves.
Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement
As part of the Spring 2024 Red Tape and Burden Reduction package, Ontario is introducing a new regulation under the At Your Service Act, 2022 to improve business service delivery. Ministries will develop and publicly report on clear service standards for permits and licenses ensuring faster, more predictable processes, reducing red tape and fostering trust by holding the government accountable to the businesses it serves. It is a key step in making Ontario the most business-friendly province in Canada, supporting growth, innovation and economic success.
To modernize the licence renewal process for master electricians, Ontario is removing the regulatory requirement under Part VIII of the Electricity Act, 1998 that mandates a recent photograph of the licence holder. This change simplifies compliance, reduces administrative burden and supports a more efficient and streamlined licensing system, making it easier for skilled trades professionals to focus on growing their businesses and supporting Ontario’s economy.
Ontario is simplifying motor vehicle sales contracts and disclosure statements with an amendment under the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act, 2002 requiring all contracts to include one general Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan statement. This change simplifies compliance, reduces administrative burden for dealers and ensures clarity and consistency for consumers.
Ontario is amending O. Reg. 98/09 under the Payday Loans Act, 2008 to be consistent with the federal changes to the Criminal Code by reflecting a reduction in the criminal rate of interest, setting a maximum cost of borrowing for payday loans and limiting the maximum fee that payday lenders can charge for dishonoured payments.
Ministry of the Solicitor General
As set out in O. Reg. 213/07 under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997, all long-term care (LTC) homes are required to have sprinklers by January 1, 2025. To account for additional infrastructure work, Ontario is extending the compliance deadline by 18 months to July 1, 2026 for designated LTC homes and will implement additional fire safety measures in the interim.
Ministry of Sport
To improve the safety of athletes and boost sport tourism, Ontario approved an OIC that brings the remaining sections of the Combative Sports Act, 2019 (CSA) into effect to establish a modernized framework for professional and amateur combative sport contests and exhibitions in Ontario.
The new General regulation under the CSA sets out licensing, permitting and enforcement requirements for both professional and amateur combative sport events and includes what defines an amateur and professional combative sport.
Two additional regulations under the CSA also set out technical rules for professional and amateur combative sports and defines fees and eligible expenses to be paid to officials.
An amendment to the Regulatory Modernization Act, 2007 was approved to replace reference to the Athletics Control Act with the CSA.
Ministry of Transportation
To help reduce the administrative burden on drivers, commercial vehicle operators and police services, Ontario is amending a regulation under the Highway Traffic Act to raise the total threshold to report a collision that involves property damage to police from $2,000 to $5,000.
Ontario is amending regulations under the Highway Traffic Act to extend the deadline for Motor Vehicle Inspection Station owners to switch to the new DriveON program from December 31, 2024, to March 31, 2025. This will allow inspection stations that have yet to join DriveON to continue operating over the holidays, giving them more time to receive equipment, train staff and familiarize themselves with the new program.
