Summary#

Bill 100, Protecting What Matters Most Act (Budget Measures), 2019, is an Ontario law that amends many existing Acts and creates several new ones. Its stated goal is to implement budget measures; the new laws also cover areas such as data use, fiscal reporting and skilled trades. The Act received Royal Assent, but its schedules have different start dates, and some required a proclamation to take effect.

Changes that matter most include:

• It creates a new skilled-trades system, administered by a Minister-appointed Registrar, and provides for the dissolution of the Ontario College of Trades. Restricted activities can only be performed by people who meet the Act’s certificate, apprenticeship or exemption rules.
• It replaces the Proceedings Against the Crown Act with a new law on claims against Ontario. Among other limits, it bars claims over legislative acts and certain policy and regulatory decisions.
• It creates rules for designated ministry data-integration units to collect and link personal information for planning, managing and evaluating government-funded services, with de-identification and privacy oversight requirements.
• It creates new laws protecting the titles “Financial Planner” and “Financial Advisor,” and regulating professional and amateur combative-sport events through licences, permits and enforcement powers.
• It changes taxes and benefits, including adding a childcare tax credit and raising the estate-tax exemption to $50,000 for applications made from January 1, 2020. It also authorizes up to $15.1 billion in borrowing.

What it means for you#

• Apprentices and tradespeople: The Minister identifies trades, skill sets and restricted activities; the Registrar runs apprenticeship programs, registers training agreements and issues certificates. The law allows inspections, compliance orders and administrative penalties. The detailed list of restricted activities and many operating rules depend on regulations.
• Financial planners and advisors: You may use a protected title only if you hold an approved credential in good standing from an approved credentialing body. The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario approves bodies and credentials and can issue compliance orders.
• Students and people paying estate tax: For student loans, interest starts accruing the month after you stop qualifying as a student, subject to exceptions in regulations. A borrower facing specified collection measures must receive notice and may request a review by the Minister; the Minister’s decision is final. Estates valued at $50,000 or less are exempt under the new rules for applications made from January 1, 2020.
• People who use public services: Designated data units may indirectly collect personal information for specified planning and evaluation purposes. The law requires limits on collection, use and disclosure, de-identification, public reporting and reviews by the Information and Privacy Commissioner. It does not create a right to a new service.
• Combative-sport organizers, participants and venues: Professional contests require licences and event permits; amateur contests generally require permits, with exceptions set by regulation. Professional events require security and an event fee. Inspectors may enter some premises and issue compliance orders; offences can bring fines or imprisonment.
• Gas-station operators and customers: Licensed operators must post a prescribed notice on each gasoline pump about the effect of the federal carbon charge on gasoline prices. The law does not change that federal charge or set gasoline prices.
• People bringing civil claims: Claims against Ontario face new limits and procedures, including notice requirements for damages claims and trials without juries. The law bars claims for negligence in legislative functions and certain policy or good-faith regulatory decisions. It also excludes Crown liability for torts by transfer-payment recipients, Crown agencies, Crown corporations and independent contractors.

Money#

The Act authorizes borrowing of up to $15.1 billion; this is borrowing authority, not an estimate of program costs.

• The childcare credit is based on eligible childcare expenses, with a rate that falls as family adjusted income rises. The materials give no total cost estimate.
• Payments under the cannabis-tax agreement may be made from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, but only from amounts appropriated by the Legislature.
• The law delays a scheduled wine and wine-cooler tax increase from April 1, 2019, to January 1, 2020.
• Some new systems allow fees or require staffing, security or inspections, but the materials give no overall cost estimate. No publicly available information on the Act’s total net fiscal effect is in the supplied material.
• Missed fiscal-reporting deadlines can require the Minister and Premier to pay personal penalties equal to 10% of their annual salaries.

What is unclear#

• Many provisions depend on later regulations or proclamation dates. The supplied material does not establish when every schedule took effect or what all later rules say.
• The parent Acts are not supplied, so the full changes from the law in force before Bill 100—and how they interact with existing programs—could not be verified.
• The data-integration units, personal-information categories and permitted links depend partly on regulations and data standards. The bill does not name all units or specify every dataset they will use.
• The new financial credentials, combative-sport categories, fees and many skilled-trades requirements depend on later rules.
• The materials do not give an overall cost estimate or quantify the revenue effects of the tax changes.

Case for#

• The bill appears intended to update many administrative systems, including rules for records, digital services, licensing and document delivery.
• A possible argument for the data rules is that linked, de-identified information could help the government plan and assess publicly funded services, while notice, limits and privacy reviews provide safeguards.
• Protected financial titles and licensing for combative-sport events could set minimum requirements for people using those titles or organizing contests.
• Regular fiscal updates and Auditor General reviews could make budget information easier for the public to examine.

Case against#

• The bill covers many different subjects, and important details are left to regulations, standards or ministerial decisions. That can make the practical rules harder to assess from the Act alone.
• The data provisions authorize indirect collection and linking of personal information across institutions. Privacy safeguards are included, but the extent of collection will depend on later designations and rules.
• Limits on claims against Ontario may make it harder for some people to seek damages, especially for harm tied to government policy, regulation or services delivered by funded organizations.
• Some tax and service changes may cost public money or affect revenue, but the supplied material does not quantify their combined effect.