Ethics and Transparency in Public Matters Act, 2002 Di Cocco, Caroline — Bill 95 (37th Parliament, 3rd Session)

Bill 95, 37-3

Ontario — Bills

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Bill 95, Ethics and Transparency in Public Matters Act, 2002

Di Cocco, Caroline

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[37] Bill 95 Original (PDF)

Bill 95 2001

An Act to require open meetings

and more stringent conflict rules

for provincial and municipal boards,

commissions and other public bodies

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

Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Definitions

Definition

1. In this Act,

"designated public body" means,

(

a) a person or entity listed in

Part I of the

Schedule to this Act,

(

b) a person or entity of a type listed in

Part II of the

Schedule to this

Act,

(

c) a person or entity prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council

under clause 14 (a), and

(

d) a person or entity of a type prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in

Council under clause 14 (a),

but does not include,

(

e) a person or entity prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council

under clause 14 (b), or

(

f) a person or entity of a type prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in

Council under clause 14 (b).

Open Meetings

Purpose

2. The purpose of sections 3 to 10 is to

provide public acess that is as open as possible to meetings of designated

public bodies and their committees and to minutes of those meetings.

Meetings - open to the public

(1) Meetings of designated

public bodies and committees of designated public bodies shall be open to the

public.

Exception

(2) Despite subsection (1), a designated public body or a

committee of a designated public body may exclude the public from a meeting

or part of a meeting if,

(

a) financial, personal or other matters may be disclosed of such a nature

that the desirability of avoiding public disclosure of them in the interest

of any person affected or in the public interest outweighs the desirability

of adhering to the principle that meetings be open to the public;

(

b) a person involved in a civil or criminal proceeding may be

prejudiced;

(

c) the safety of a person may be jeopardized;

(

d) personnel matters will be discussed;

(

e) litigation affecting the body or a committee of the body will be

discussed or instructions will be given to or opinions received from

solicitors for the body or committee of the body;

(

f) matters prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council under clause

14 (

c) will be discussed; or

(

g) the body or committee of the body will deliberate whether to exclude

the public from a meeting or part of a meeting, and the deliberation will

consider whether one or more of clauses (

a) through (

f) are applicable to the

meeting or part of the meeting.

Offence - exclusion from meeting

(1) If a designated public body

or a committee of a designated public body excludes the public from a meeting

or part of a meeting and none of the circumstances listed in clauses 3 (2)

(

a) to (

g) apply, each member of the body or the committee who was in

attendance at the meeting or part of the meeting is guilty of an offence and

on conviction is liable to a fine of not more than $1,000.

Defence

(2) A member of a designated public body or of a committee of a

designated public body is not guilty of an offence under subsection (1) if he

or she,

(

a) objected on the record to excluding the public from the meeting;

(

b) did not object on the record to excluding the public from the meeting

in the good faith belief that one of the circumstances listed in subsection 3

(2) applied.

Minutes

(1) Minutes of meetings of a

designated public body or committee of a designated public body shall,

(

a) be clear, concise and neutral;

(

b) contain sufficient detail to adequately inform the public of the main

subject-matters considered by the designated public body or committee of the

designated public body and the decisions made by the body or the committee;

and

(

c) be made available to the public.

Exception

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to minutes regarding meetings

or parts of meetings from which the public was excluded in accordance with

subsection 3 (2).

Rules

(1) By the end of its third

meeting after this Act comes into force, each designated public body, having

regard to the purpose set out in

section 2, shall make rules respecting,

(

a) how public notice of its meetings and the meetings of its committees

shall be given;

(

b) how the minutes of its meetings and the meetings of its committees

shall be made available to the public; and

(

c) how rules made under this subsection and amendments made under

subsection (2) shall be made available to the public.

Amendment or revision of rules

(2) A designated public body may amend the rules made under

subsection (1) at any time.

Compliance with rules

7. By the end of its third meeting after this

Act comes into force, a designated public body shall appoint a member of the

body to be the person responsible for overseeing compliance by the body and

by committees of the body with

section 5 and with the rules made under

section 6.

Offence - minutes and rules

8. A person appointed for a designated public

body under

section 7 or under subsection 10 (3) who fails to be reasonably

diligent in overseeing compliance with

section 5 and the rules made under

section 6 is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of

not more than $1,000.

Complaint re: failure to make rules

(1) Any person who believes that

a designated public body has failed to make its rules in accordance with

section 6 may complain in writing to the Attorney General.

Request for copy of rules

(2) Upon receiving a complaint under subsection (1), the

Attorney General may request that the designated public body provide a copy

of its rules to the Attorney General.

Failure to comply with request

(3) If the designated public body does not comply with the

Attorney General's request within 30 days or such longer time as the Attorney

General considers reasonable in the circumstances, the Attorney General may

make the rules for the body and for all purposes, including the purposes of

section 8, those rules have the same effect as if they were made by the body

under

section 6.

Amendment or substitution of rules

(4) If the designated public body provides a copy of the rules

to the Attorney General and the Attorney General is satisfied that the rules

made by the body under

section 6 reflect a lack of reasonable regard for the

purpose set out in

section 2, he or she may amend the rules or substitute new

rules and for all purposes, including the purposes of

section 8, the amended

or substituted rules have the same effect as if they were made by the body

under

section 6.

Failure to appoint person responsible

(1) Any person who believes

that a designated public body has failed to comply with

section 7 may

complain in writing to the Attorney General.

Request for appointment

(2) Upon receiving a complaint made under subsection (1), the

Attorney General may request that the designated public body make the

appointment required under

section 7 and provide minutes of the appointment

to the Attorney General.

Failure to comply with request

(3) If the designated public body does not comply with the

Attorney General's request within 30 days or such longer time as the Attorney

General considers reasonable in the circumstances, the Attorney General may

appoint a member of the body to be the person responsible for overseeing

compliance by the body and by committees of the body with

section 5 and the

rules made under

section 6.

Appointment by AG

(4) The appointment made by the Attorney General under

subsection (3) may be made by naming an individual or by referring to an

office or position on the designated public body or committee of the

designated public body, and for all purposes, including the purposes of

section 8, the appointment has the same effect as if it were made by the body

under

section 7.

Conflict of Interest

Personal interest

(1) A personal interest of a

member of a designated public body or a committee of a designated body does

not include an interest,

(

a) that is of general application;

(

b) that affects the member as one of a broad class of persons;

(

c) that concerns the remuneration, allowance, honorarium or benefits of

members of the designated public body or the committee of the designated

body;

(

d) that is so remote or insignificant in its nature that it cannot

reasonably be regarded as likely to influence the member; or

(

e) that is of a type prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council in

a regulation made under subsection 14 (d).

Same

(2) A personal interest of a member of a designated public body

includes a personal interest of a parent, spouse, same-sex partner or child

of the member.

Duty of member with conflict

(3) Where a member of a designated public body has a personal

interest in a matter and is present at a meeting of the body at which the

matter is to be considered, the member,

(

a) shall, before any consideration of the matter at the meeting, disclose

the personal interest and its general nature;

(

b) shall not take

part in the discussion of or vote on any question in

respect of the matter; and

(

c) shall not attempt in any way, whether before, during or after the

meeting, to influence the voting on the matter.

Absence from meeting

(4) Where a meeting or part of a meeting is not open to the

public, in addition to complying with the requirements of subsection (3), the

member shall absent herself or himself from the meeting or the part of the

meeting during which the matter is being considered.

Disclosure in minutes

(5) A disclosure of interest made under this

section shall,

where made at a meeting that is open to the public, be recorded in the

minutes of the meeting.

Same

(6) A disclosure of interest made under this

section shall,

where made at a meeting that is not open to the public, be recorded in the

minutes of the next meeting that is open to the public.

Disclosure in minutes without detail

(7) The record of the disclosure in the minutes need not

include any detail if,

(

a) the desirability of avoiding public disclosure of the detail in the

interest of any person affected or by the public interest outweighs the

public interest in disclosure;

(

b) the disclosure of the detail might prejudice a person involved in a

civil or criminal proceeding;

(

c) the disclosure of the detail might jeopardize the safety of a

person;

(

d) the disclosure of the detail would disclose personnel matters;

(

e) the disclosure of the detail would disclose matters relating to

litigation affecting the designated public body or committee of the

designated public body, or instructions given to or opinions received from

solicitors for the public body or committee of the designated public body;

(

f) the regulations made under clause 14 (

e) provide that the detail need

not be recorded in the minutes.

Penalty

12. Each member of a designated public body

who knowingly fails to disclose an interest as required by

section 11 is

guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not more than

$1,000.

Miscellaneous

Conflict

13. Subject to the regulations made under

clause 14 (f), in the event of a conflict between this Act and the

regulations made under it and in any other Act or regulations, this Act and

the regulations made under it prevail, except to the extent that the other

Act or regulations provide for greater openness of meetings, greater

accessibilty to minutes of meetings, or stricter controls regarding conflicts

of interest.

Regulations

Regulations

14. The Lieutenant Governor in Council may

make regulations,

(

a) prescribing persons or entities or types of persons or entities for

the purposes of clauses (

c) and (

d) of the definition of "designated public

body" in sectio

Document details

Collection	Ontario — Bills
Citation	Bill 95, 37-3
Type	bill
Volume / chapter	p37 s3 bill 95 html
Language	en
Format	html
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	fd907e3b21085f88486ae6c006ac3cf641231b87

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