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Bill 78, Supporting Ontario's Community, Rural and Agricultural Newspapers Act, 2019

Ghamari, Goldie

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Status

Debates

Acts affected

Original

Bill 78 Original (PDF)

EXPLANATORY

NOTE

The

Bill amends the City of Toronto Act, 2006 , the Development Charges Act, 1997 , the Environmental

Assessment Act , the Expropriations Act , the Municipal Act, 2001 , the Ontario

Heritage Act and the Planning Act where the

Act or the regulations made under it require that notices be published in a

newspaper having general circulation in a municipality. The amendments allow

the publication to be done in a newspaper that is published at regular

intervals of a month or less, rather than published at regular intervals of a

week or less, as is currently the case.

Bill 78 2019

Act to amend various Acts with respect to the publication of notices in

newspapers

Preamble

Increasingly,

community, rural and agricultural newspapers, most of which are locally owned,

face increased costs of production and are forced to engage in cost-cutting

efforts. One such example is limiting the frequency of their publication to

bi-weekly or monthly. This arises particularly with community newspapers in

northern and rural Ontario. However, newspapers that limit the frequency of

their publication to bi-weekly or monthly no longer meet the requirements of the

definition of “newspaper” in

section 87 of the Legislation

Act, 2006 , so municipalities are not able to post certain required legal

notices in them.

Not

only are these community newspapers losing out on a potential source of revenue

that would help support Ontario’s local businesses, but this also makes it

difficult for municipalities to inform local populations in rural or remote

areas of important local news. Many of the residents of those municipalities rely

on their local community papers as their only source of relevant, local

community information.

Therefore,

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

the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

City

of Toronto Act, 2006

Section 232 of the City of Toronto Act, 2006 is

amended by adding the following subsection:

Definition

(1.1) In

clause (1) (a),

“newspaper”

means a document that,

(

a) is

printed in sheet form, published at regular intervals of a month or less and

circulated to the general public, and

(

b) consists

primarily of news of current events of general interest.

Development

Charges Act, 1997

Section 12 of the Development Charges Act, 1997 is

amended by adding the following subsection:

Publication

in newspaper

(1.1) If

the regulations require the council to give notice of the meeting or meetings

by publication in a newspaper, the council shall do so in a document that,

(

a) is

printed in sheet form, published at regular intervals of a month or less and

circulated to the general public; and

(

b) consists

primarily of news of current events of general interest.

Environmental

Assessment Act

Section 1 of the Environmental Assessment Act is

amended by adding the following subsection:

Definition

(1.1) In

the regulations,

“newspaper”

means a document that,

(

a) is

printed in sheet form, published at regular intervals of a month or less and

circulated to the general public, and

(

b) consists

primarily of news of current events of general interest.

Expropriations

Act

(1) Subsection 1 (2) of the Expropriations Act

is repealed and the following substituted:

Service

(2) Any

document required by this Act to be served may be served personally or by

registered mail addressed to the person to be served at the person’s last known

address, or if that person or person’s address is unknown, by publication at

three successive times in a newspaper that is published at regular intervals of

a month or less and circulated to the general public in the locality in which

the land concerned is situate.

Date

of service

(3) Service is deemed to be made,

(

a) in

the case of service by registered mail, on the second day after the day of

mailing; and

(

b) in

the case of service by publication, on the date of the third publication.

(2) Subsection

6 (1) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Steps

before inquiry

(1) Upon

applying for an approval under

section 4, an expropriating authority shall

serve a notice of its application for approval to expropriate upon each

registered owner of the lands to be expropriated and shall publish the notice three

successive times in a newspaper that is published at regular intervals of a

month or less and circulated to the general public in the locality in which the

lands are situate.

Municipal

Act, 2001

Subsection 1 (1) of the Municipal Act, 2001 is

amended by adding the following definition:

“newspaper”,

except if the context requires otherwise, means a document that,

(

a) is

printed in sheet form, published at regular intervals of a month or less and

circulated to the general public, and

(

b) consists

primarily of news of current events of general interest; (“journal”)

Ontario

Heritage Act

Section 1 of the Ontario Heritage Act is amended by

adding the following definition:

“newspaper”

means a document that,

(

a) is

printed in sheet form, published at regular intervals of a month or less and

circulated to the general public, and

(

b) consists

primarily of news of current events of general interest; (“journal”)

Planning

Act

Section 1 of the Planning Act is amended by adding

the following subsection:

Definition

(6) In

the regulations,

“newspaper”

means a document that,

(

a) is

printed in sheet form, published at regular intervals of a month or less and

circulated to the general public, and

(

b) consists

primarily of news of current events of general interest.

Commencement

and

Short Title

Commencement

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

Short

title

The

short title of this Act is the Supporting Ontario’s

Community, Rural and Agricultural Newspapers Act, 2019 .

Date Bill stage Event Outcome Committee

March 28, 2019

Second Reading

Ordered referred to Standing Committee

Standing Committee on Justice Policy

March 28, 2019

Second Reading

Vote

Carried

March 28, 2019

Second Reading

Debated

March 6, 2019

First Reading

Vote

Carried

Debates and Progress

First Reading

March 6, 2019

Committee

Second Reading

March 28, 2019

Ms. Goldie Ghamari, Ms. Catherine Fife, Mr. Parm Gill, Mr. Michael Mantha, Mr. Stephen Lecce, Mr. John Vanthof, Mr. Lorne Coe, Mr. Toby Barrett

March 28, 2019

Declared carried. Referred to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy.

Committee

Standing Committee on Justice Policy

Third Reading

Royal Assent

Acts affected - Bill 78

Most Ontario public acts are available electronically; to view copies of the Acts to be amended by this bill visit e-laws

City of Toronto Act, 2006

Development Charges Act, 1997

Environmental Assessment Act

Expropriations Act

Municipal Act, 2001

Ontario Heritage Act

Planning Act

Legislative Assembly of Ontario

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