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Bill 61, Ontario Artificial Intelligence, Talent and Innovation Strategy Act, 2025

Cerjanec, Rob

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Second Reading Vote

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Bill 61 Original (PDF)

EXPLANATORY

NOTE

The

Bill enacts the Ontario Artificial Intelligence, Talent

and Innovation Strategy Act, 2025 . The major elements are set out below.

The

Act requires the Government of Ontario to design, implement and maintain an

artificial intelligence, talent and innovation strategy. The objectives of the

strategy are set out in the Act.

The

Act establishes an Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee that is tasked

with making recommendations, advising and consulting on artificial intelligence

issues. The Committee is also tasked with publishing an annual report on

Ontario’s progress in achieving the objectives of the strategy.

The

Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade must table the

Committee’s reports in the Legislative Assembly. The Minister must also appear

before a Standing Committee on an annual basis to describe Ontario’s progress

in achieving the strategy’s objectives.

committee of the Legislative Assembly must review the effectiveness of the Act

every three years.

Bill 61 2025

Act to establish an artificial intelligence, talent and innovation strategy for

Ontario

CONTENTS

Definitions

Purpose

Artificial

intelligence, talent and innovation strategy

Advisory

committee

Regulations

Review

of Act

Commencement

Short

title

His

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

Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Definitions

(1) In this Act,

“artificial

intelligence” means any system, software, hardware or integrated process that is

trained using machine learning, algorithms or other similar methods to perform

tasks or generate outputs, such as predictions, recommendations, decisions or

creative content, that would ordinarily require human intelligence, cognition

or judgment, including,

(

a) systems

based on machine learning, deep learning, neural networks, natural language

processing or other computational or statistical methods,

(

b) systems

capable of perception, reasoning, planning, adaptation, self-optimization, autonomous

decision-making or operating as an autonomous agent,

(

c) emerging

and advanced forms of artificial intelligence, including machine learning, generative

artificial intelligence, artificial general intelligence, artificial superintelligence

and other related developments or technologies designed to emulate, exceed or

augment human cognitive abilities,

(

d) any

associated tools, data, models or computational infrastructure used to train,

deploy or operate such a system, and

(

e) any

other prescribed system, software, hardware or integrated process; (“intelligence

artificielle”)

“Minister”

means the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade or such

other member of the Executive Council to whom responsibility for the

administration of this Act may be assigned or transferred under the Executive

Council Act .

(“ministre”)

Definition

to be construed liberally and broadly

(2) The

definition of “artificial intelligence” in subsection (1) shall be construed

liberally and broadly to include any forms of artificial or machine-based

intelligence that are not specifically named or defined at the time this Act

comes into force.

Purpose

2 The purpose of this Act is to require the Government of

Ontario to design, implement and maintain a comprehensive artificial

intelligence, talent and innovation strategy in order to develop and grow

Ontario’s economy.

Artificial

intelligence, talent and innovation strategy

(1) The Government of Ontario shall design,

implement, and maintain an artificial intelligence, talent and innovation

strategy, with the goal of making Ontario a global and national leader in artificial

intelligence and innovation within 10 years.

Objectives

of strategy

(2) The

artificial intelligence, talent and innovation strategy shall have the

following objectives:

1. Incentivize

the creation and retention of new artificial intelligence and innovation

startup companies located in Ontario.

2. Incentivize

the development and expansion of post-secondary incubation programs for

artificial intelligence and innovation startups.

3. Develop

strategies to improve economic productivity to enhance business competitiveness

and provide a better quality of life and higher standard of living for all

Ontario residents.

4. Encourage

investments in artificial intelligence and innovation research and development

at Ontario post-secondary institutions to enhance productivity.

5. Build

leadership and talent pipelines by creating an environment where artificial intelligence

and innovation professionals, researchers and entrepreneurs can thrive.

6. Protect

the safety and privacy of Ontarians.

7. Create

economic growth that benefits all Ontarians in all parts of the province and

positions Ontario as a national and global leader in artificial intelligence

and innovation.

8. Incentivize

international and domestic investment into Ontarian artificial intelligence and

innovation companies.

9. Support

strategic investments in public and private infrastructure to ensure Canadian

innovators, businesses and researchers have reliable access to the computing

capacity required for artificial intelligence development.

10. Support

the development of sovereign artificial intelligence capacity to ensure that

Ontario’s data, technologies and innovation infrastructure remain under

Canadian control and governance.

11. Develop

strategies to increase and retain students graduating from publicly funded

Ontario post-secondary educational institutions and to encourage Ontario

students who have moved abroad to return to Ontario.

12. Develop

and report annually on measurable targets and indicators to assess progress

with respect to artificial intelligence and innovation in Ontario.

Advisory

committee

(1) The Minister shall, no more than 90 days

following the day this Act comes into force, establish an advisory committee

under the name of the Artificial Intelligence Advisory

artificielle in

French.

Composition

(2) The

Committee shall be composed of no more than 21 members appointed by the

Minister.

Representation

(3) At

least one person from each of the following sectors, industries and groups

shall be appointed to the Committee:

1. The

artificial intelligence industry.

2. Artificial

intelligence safety organizations.

3. Civil

liberties advocacy groups.

4. Disability

rights groups.

5. The

health care sector.

6. Indigenous

groups.

7. Industry

sectors, such as the manufacturing, agriculture and energy sectors.

8. Information

privacy regulators.

9. Organized

labour.

10. The

post-secondary education sector.

11. Student

and youth groups.

Initial

report

(4) The

Committee shall produce an initial report that makes recommendations on how to

achieve any unmet objectives of the strategy and make it available to the

public within 180 days after the Committee is established.

Other

functions

(5) The

Committee shall do the following:

1. Make

recommendations to the Government of Ontario on how to implement the artificial

intelligence, talent and innovation strategy, including by recommending any

legislative or regulatory changes that are needed to achieve the strategy.

2. Advise

the Government of Ontario on emerging artificial intelligence innovations and

their relation to business development in Ontario.

3. Consult

with industry, researchers, students and public stakeholders on issues

affecting artificial intelligence, talent and innovation in Ontario.

4. Publish

an annual report that describes Ontario’s progress in achieving the objectives

of the artificial intelligence, talent and innovation strategy and that makes

recommendations on how to achieve any unmet objectives of the strategy.

Response

to recommendations

(6) The

Minister shall publicly respond within 90 days after the Committee makes any

recommendations in a published report and shall indicate the government’s

response and the timelines for implementation.

Tabling

of reports

(7) The

Minister shall table every report made by the Committee within 60 days after

the Minister receives the report or, if the Assembly is not in session at the

end of the 60-day period, as early as possible in the next session.

Appearance

before Committee

(8) The

Minister shall appear before the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic

Affairs annually to update the Standing Committee on Ontario’s progress in

achieving the objectives of the artificial intelligence, talent and innovation

strategy.

Regulations

5 The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations

prescribing additional systems, software, hardware or integrated processes for

the purposes of the definition of “artificial intelligence” in subsection 1

(1).

Review

of Act

6 The Minister shall ensure that a committee of the

Legislative Assembly reviews this Act every three years to assess how effective

the Act has been in achieving the purpose set out in

section 2.

Commencement

7 This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal

Assent.

Short

title

8 The

short title of this Act is the Ontario Artificial Intelligence, Talent and Innovation Strategy

Act, 2025 .

Date Bill stage Event Outcome Committee

November 24, 2025

Second Reading

Vote

Lost on division

November 20, 2025

Second Reading

Question put

Vote deferred

November 20, 2025

Second Reading

Debated

October 27, 2025

First Reading

Ordered for Second Reading

October 27, 2025

First Reading

Vote

Carried

First Reading

October 27, 2025

Carried

Ordered for Second Reading

Second Reading

November 20, 2025

Debated

Question put

November 24, 2025

Lost on division

Vote on second reading - Lost (November 24, 2025)

Ayes

(43) Teresa J. Armstrong

Doly Begum

Jessica Bell

Stephen Blais

Guy Bourgouin

Stephanie Bowman

Bobbi Ann Brady

Jeff Burch

Rob Cerjanec

Aislinn Clancy

Lucille Collard

Lee Fairclough

Catherine Fife

John Fraser

Jennifer K. French

Wayne Gates

France Gélinas

Alexa Gilmour

Chris Glover

Lisa Gretzky

Andrea Hazell

Ted Hsu

Terence Kernaghan

Robin Lennox

Karen McCrimmon

Catherine McKenney

Mary-Margaret McMahon

Chandra Pasma

Tom Rakocevic

Peggy Sattler

Mike Schreiner

Adil Shamji

Sandy Shaw

Stephanie Smyth

Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens

Marit Stiles

Peter Tabuns

Jonathan Tsao

John Vanthof

Lise Vaugeois

Tyler Watt

Jamie West

Kristyn Wong-Tam

Nays

(71) Tyler Allsopp

Deepak Anand

Aris Babikian

Robert Bailey

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy

Will Bouma

Ric Bresee

Hon. Paul Calandra

Hon. Raymond Sung Joon Cho

Monica Ciriello

Hon. Steve Clark

Lorne Coe

Michelle Cooper

Hon. Stephen Crawford

Rudy Cuzzetto

George Darouze

Billy Denault

Jess Dixon

Andrew Dowie

Hon. Doug Downey

Hon. Jill Dunlop

Mohamed Firin

Hon. Rob Flack

Hon. Doug Ford

Dawn Gallagher Murphy

Silvia Gualtieri

Hon. Zee Hamid

Hon. Ernie Hardeman

Hon. Kevin Holland

Hon. Sylvia Jones

Hon. Trevor Jones

John Jordan

Logan Kanapathi

Hon. Michael S. Kerzner

Hon. Andrea Khanjin

Hon. Natalia Kusendova-Bashta

Anthony Leardi

Hon. Stephen Lecce

Hon. Todd J. McCarthy

Hon. Caroline Mulroney

Hon. Sam Oosterhoff

Billy Pang

Hon. Michael Parsa

Hon. David Piccini

Natalie Pierre

Steve Pinsonneault

Hon. George Pirie

Hon. Nolan Quinn

Joseph Racinsky

Matthew Rae

Hon. Greg Rickford

Brian Riddell

Bill Rosenberg

Sheref Sabawy

Amarjot Sandhu

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria

Stéphane Sarrazin

Brian Saunderson

Hon. Laurie Scott

Dave Smith

David Smith

Hon. Graydon Smith

Laura Smith

Hon. Nina Tangri

Hon. Vijay Thanigasalam

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo

Effie J. Triantafilopoulos

Paul Vickers

Daisy Wai

Hon. Charmaine A. Williams

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