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Bill 86, Advisory Committee to Protect Ontario's People and Economy from Airborne Pandemics Act, 2023

Wong-Tam, Kristyn

Andrew, Jill

Gates, Wayne

West, Jamie

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Status

Debates

Original

Bill 86 Original (PDF)

EXPLANATORY

NOTE

The

Bill enacts the Advisory Committee to Protect Ontario’s People

and Economy from Airborne Pandemics Act, 2023 . The Act provides that the

Standing Committee on Social Policy shall establish an Advisory Committee to

Protect Ontario’s People and Economy from Airborne Pandemics. The Advisory Committee

shall make recommendations to the Minister of Health and the Standing Committee

on Social Policy to improve Ontario’s infrastructure, regulations and standards

relating to indoor air quality in non-residential workplaces and public

settings.

Bill 86 2023

Act to establish an Advisory Committee to Protect Ontario’s People and Economy

from Airborne Pandemics

His

Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the

Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Definition

this Act,

“Airborne

disease transmission” means the spread of diseases through the inhalation of

infectious respiratory aerosols that remain suspended in the air after being

transmitted from an infected person.

Advisory

Committee

(1) The

Standing Committee on Social Policy shall, no more than 60 days after the day

this

section comes into force, establish an Advisory Committee to Protect

Ontario’s People and Economy from Airborne Pandemics.

Composition

(2) The

Advisory Committee to Protect Ontario’s People and Economy from Airborne

Pandemics shall be composed of members appointed by the Standing Committee on

Social Policy.

Same

(3) The

Standing Committee on Social Policy shall ensure that the Advisory Committee to

Protect Ontario’s People and Economy from Airborne Pandemics includes members

of the following groups:

1. Individuals

who have professional expertise and experience working in epidemiology.

2. Health

care providers with demonstrated experience working with members of

marginalized communities.

3. Frontline

unionized public education workers.

4. Occupational

hygienists.

5. Small

business owners.

6. Frontline

service-sector workers from public and private unions.

7. Engineers,

architects, building ventilation specialists and building energy efficiency

specialists.

8. Indoor

air quality researchers and aerosol scientists.

9. Medical

professionals specializing in infectious diseases, medical microbiology and infection

prevention and control.

10. Nurses.

11. Health

care workers, including personal support workers and developmental services

workers.

12. Disabled

people and their human rights representatives.

13. Communications

professionals with experience in public health communications, behaviour change

and harm reduction.

14. Other

individuals who the Standing Committee believes will make useful contributions

to the Advisory Committee’s work.

Same

(4) The

Standing Committee on Social Policy shall make all reasonable efforts to ensure

that the composition of the Advisory Committee to Protect Ontario’s People and

Economy from Airborne Pandemics reflects the diversity of Ontarians who are

exposed to the hazard of airborne diseases by including members of the

following groups:

1. Immuno-compromised

persons.

2. Seniors.

3. Indigenous

persons.

4. Black

persons.

5. Other

racialized communities.

6. Disabled

persons.

7. Persons

living with, or who have experienced, homelessness.

8. Persons

who work in industries that require close physical contact with other people.

9. Persons

living in rural and remote areas.

10. Persons

who live in long-term care or supportive living facilities.

11. Persons

who work in long-term care facilities, residential care facilities, youth and correctional

services facilities, supportive living facilities, homeless shelters or similar

congregate settings.

12. Essential

workers.

13. Migrant

workers or their legal representatives.

Remuneration

and expenses

(5) The

Lieutenant Governor in Council may determine the remuneration and expenses of

any person appointed under subsection (2).

Appropriation

required

(6) Subsection

(5) does not apply unless money has been appropriated by the Legislature for

the purpose of that subsection.

Functions

(1) The

Advisory Committee to Protect Ontario’s People and Economy from Airborne

Pandemics shall make recommendations to the Standing Committee on Social Policy

to improve Ontario’s infrastructure, regulations and standards relating to

indoor air quality in non-residential workplaces and public settings.

Same

(2) Without

limiting the generality of subsection (1), the Advisory Committee to Protect

Ontario’s People and Economy from Airborne Pandemics shall inquire into the

following matters and make relevant recommendations to the Minister of Health

and the Standing Committee on Social Policy:

1. How

to modify maintenance standards, public health recommendations, the Building

Code Act, 1992 and regulations made under that Act to ensure that public

settings have an appropriate combination of ventilation, filtration and other

air cleaning methods to reduce the transmission of airborne diseases.

2. How

to educate the public about indoor air quality in public settings.

3. How

to ensure that the Province has adequate incentives and subsidies in place to

mitigate, reduce or cover the costs of measures to improve indoor air quality incurred

by small businesses and other private institutions with public spaces.

4. How

to ensure equitable protection from respiratory illness for Ontarians facing

axes of marginalization, including being low-income, disabled, Indigenous,

homeless, a sex worker, racialized, immunocompromised or a front-line worker.

5. How

to expand workplace insurance coverage to reflect the hazard of frontline

workers being exposed to airborne diseases.

6. How

to ensure,

guided by

the precautionary principle, that personal protective equipment, high-quality

respiratory protection, such as N95 respirators, and layered prevention

controls are available to workers, students, patients and customers exposed to

airborne disease transmission during future pandemics.

7. How

to ensure that regulations addressing airborne disease transmission are in

place for hazard assessments, infection transmission and control measures,

investigations and contact tracing.

8. How

to ensure that public and workplace airborne disease transmission data is

collected, transparent and communicated regularly to the public to inform

workplace transmission prevention and public health measures.

9. How

to ensure that joint health and safety committees comprehensively review how to

mitigate airborne disease spread during a public health emergency.

Stakeholder

consultation

(3) In

performing its functions under this section, the Advisory Committee to Protect

Ontario’s People and Economy from Airborne Pandemics shall consult with the

following stakeholders:

1. Health

care providers, including,

i. community

health centres,

ii. Aboriginal

Health Access Centres,

iii. nurse

practitioner-led clinics, and

iv. family

health teams.

2. The

Ontario Society of Professional Engineers.

3. The

Canadian Aerosol Transmission Coalition.

4. The

Ontario Federation of Labour.

5. The

Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario and other unions.

6. The

Ontario Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Contractors Association.

7. Public

education workers in primary, secondary and post-secondary educational

institutions.

8. Child

care and day care administrators and workers.

9. Small

business associations.

10. The

Canadian Committee on Indoor Air Quality.

11. Occupational

Health Clinics for Ontario Workers.

12. Any

other stakeholders with whom the Advisory Committee determines it is

appropriate to consult.

Report

(4) On

or before the day that is six months after the day the Advisory Committee to

Protect Ontario’s People and Economy from Airborne Pandemics is established,

the Advisory Committee shall report its recommendations to the Minister of

Health and the Standing Committee on Social Policy.

Implementation

of recommendations

(5) On

or before the day that is 90 days after the day the Advisory Committee to

Protect Ontario’s People and Economy from Airborne Pandemics reports its

recommendations to the Minister of Health under subsection (4), the Minister of

Health shall inform the Assembly of the recommendations of the Advisory Committee

that the Minister of Health and the Standing Committee on Social Policy recommend

the Government of Ontario implement.

Same

(6) On or before the day that is one year after

the day the Minister of Health informs the Assembly of the recommendations under

subsection (5),

the Minister of Health shall report to the Assembly on the progress the Government of Ontario has made in implementing their

recommendations.

Commencement

This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

Short

title

The

short title of this Act is the Advisory Committee to

Protect Ontario’s People and Economy from Airborne Pandemics Act, 2023 .

Date Bill stage Event Outcome Committee

March 27, 2023

First Reading

Ordered for Second Reading

March 27, 2023

First Reading

Vote

Carried

First Reading

March 27, 2023

Carried

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