Legislative Assembly of Ontario · Committee

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Standing Committee on Justice Policy · Room 2

The official transcript of the meeting, from Hansard, by heading. Ministers, officials and witnesses appear as the transcript names them; committees have no live transcript, so the record appears once the Assembly publishes it.

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Meeting ended

Selection of estimates

9:00 a.m.Official transcript

The Chair (Mr. Lorne Coe)

Good morning, everyone. The Standing Committee on Justice Policy will now come to order. On our agenda this morning is the selection of estimates for consideration. Pursuant to standing order 62(b), the estimates, upon tabling, are deemed to be referred to the standing committees to which the respective ministries and offices were assigned pursuant to standing order 113(b). All committee members received an electronic copy of the 2026-27 estimates and the corresponding ministry briefing books from the Clerk. The estimates for the following ministries have been referred to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy for selection and consideration: —Ministry of the Attorney General; —Ministry of Francophone Affairs; —Ministry of Indigenous Affairs and First Nations Economic Reconciliation; —Ministry of Emergency Preparedness and Response; —Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement; and —Ministry of the Solicitor General. The objective of this morning’s meeting is to select the estimates of certain ministries for review by the committee. Standing order 63 sets out the process by which the committee makes its selections. Each of the recognized parties on the committee shall select the estimates of up to one ministry in each turn. The official opposition selects first, followed by the third party and then the government. If members of one party decline to make a selection, the selection then passes to the next party in the rotation. The process concludes when either there are no further ministries available to select, or if all recognized parties decline to make any, or any further, selections. Pursuant to standing order 63(c), these selections are to be reviewed in the order that they were chosen. However, this order may be altered by unanimous agreement of the subcommittee on committee business, or by order of the House. Pursuant to standing order 63(d), the time for the consideration of the estimates of each ministry shall be determined by the respective committee. The estimates of those ministries not selected for consideration will be deemed to have been passed by the committee. As Chair, I will report those unselected estimates back to the House, and they will be deemed to be adopted and concurred in by the House. When making your selections, please look at the list of the ministries as they’re listed in the estimates book and give the correct names of the ministries. The Clerk has provided a hard copy, which should be in front of you. Does every committee member have a list of them? Okay. Do members have any questions before we begin? MPP Fife.

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9:03 a.m.Official transcript

Ms. Catherine Fife

Can you please remind us of the timing that we have to review these estimates? I know the government changed the time allotment quite drastically, and I’m unsure as to what is the total allotment of time that we have to review these six ministries.

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9:04 a.m.Official transcript

The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. Isaiah Thorning)

The committee has to determine how much time it would like to spend considering each of those ministries. So we need to work our way through the selection process prior to—

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9:04 a.m.Official transcript

Ms. Catherine Fife

Is it unlimited, then? Is there a cap? What are the parameters?

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9:04 a.m.Official transcript

The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. Isaiah Thorning)

It’s up to the discretion of the committee.

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9:04 a.m.Official transcript

The Chair (Mr. Lorne Coe)

Any more questions? Seeing no more questions, I’m going to start with the official opposition for their first selection. MPP Fife.

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9:04 a.m.Official transcript

Ms. Catherine Fife

The official opposition selects the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement, for very obvious reasons. Interjections.

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9:05 a.m.Official transcript

The Chair (Mr. Lorne Coe)

We now move to the third party. MPP McCrimmon, please.

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9:05 a.m.Official transcript

Ms. Catherine Fife

The official opposition selects the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs and First Nations Economic Reconciliation.

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9:05 a.m.Official transcript

The Chair (Mr. Lorne Coe)

Thank you for the selections. This concludes our business for today. The committee is now adjourned.

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9:06 a.m.Official transcript

MPP Silvia Gualtieri (Mississauga East–Cooksville / Mississauga-Est–Cooksville PC)

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