Summary#
Bill 29, Turn Down the Heat Act (Extreme Heat Awareness), 2025, would proclaim the first week of June as Extreme Heat Awareness Week and amend the City of Toronto Act, 2006 and the Municipal Act, 2001. Its stated goal is to raise public awareness of extreme heat and ways to prepare for it.
- The Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks must publish information on a Government of Ontario website about preparing for extreme heat, preventing or reducing heat-related health concerns, publicly available Ontario resources, and frequently asked questions.
- The Minister must mail that information to every household in territories without municipal organization before the end of each year.
- Toronto’s treasurer and municipal treasurers must send materials containing the website information with any tax bill they send to taxpayers.
- The awareness week would take effect when the bill receives Royal Assent. The website, mailing and tax-bill duties would start three months after Royal Assent.
What it means for you#
- Taxpayers receiving a municipal tax bill: The bill would require the treasurer to include extreme-heat information with the bill. It does not change the tax amount.
- Households in territories without municipal organization: The Minister would have to mail the information to every household each year.
- People in Ontario generally: The Minister would have to publish the specified information online. The bill does not require particular heat services, alerts, or emergency responses.
- Municipalities and the provincial ministry: They would have to carry out the information-sharing duties described above.
Money#
No cost information is in the available material.
- The bill creates duties for the ministry and municipalities, but gives no estimate for website, printing, mailing, or tax-bill distribution costs.
- It does not set a fee, fine, tax change, or funding amount.
What is unclear#
- “Extreme heat” and “extreme heat weather events” are not defined in the bill.
- The bill does not set rules for updating the website information, the mailing materials, or their format or language.
- It does not explain how the ministry or municipalities would check that the information is complete or reaches its intended recipients.
- The supplied material does not include the two parent Acts, so the existing tax-bill rules and how these new duties fit with them could not be verified.
- The bill does not state how much the duties would cost or how they would be funded.
Case for#
- The bill appears intended to make practical heat-prevention information easier to find and to share it through both a government website and regular mailings.
- Sending the information with tax bills could reach taxpayers through an existing communication, rather than requiring them to seek out a separate source.
- Naming an annual awareness week could give public attention to the issue at a set time each year.
Case against#
- The bill requires information to be distributed but does not set standards for its accuracy, accessibility, or updating.
- It does not require heat alerts, emergency services, or other direct help during extreme heat. Information-sharing alone may not address people’s immediate needs.
- The bill creates mailing and tax-bill duties without estimating their costs or providing specific funding.