Standing Committee on Government Agencies

Terms of Reference

The procedures that form the Terms of reference for the Standing Committee on Government Agencies are set out in Standing Order 110(f):
[The] Standing Committee on Government Agencies which is empowered to review and report to the House its observations, opinions and recommendations on the operation of all agencies, boards and commissions to which the Lieutenant Governor in Council makes some or all of the appointments, and all corporations to which the Crown in right of Ontario is a majority shareholder, such reviews to be made with a view to reducing possible redundancy and overlapping, improving the accountability of agencies, rationalizing the functions of the agencies, identifying those agencies or parts of agencies which could be subject to sunset provisions, and revising the mandates and roles of agencies, and to review the intended appointments of persons to agencies, boards and commissions and of directors to corporations in which the Crown in right of Ontario is a majority shareholder (excluding re-appointments and appointments for a term of one year or less) according to the following procedures:

1. A minister of the Crown shall lay on the Table a certificate stating that the Lieutenant Governor in Council intends to appoint a person to an agency, board or commission or to the board of directors of a corporation, together with a copy of the position description and a summary of the person's qualifications, which documents shall be deemed to be referred to the Committee.

2. Upon receipt of a certificate as referred to in paragraph 1, the Clerk of the Committee shall distribute to each member of the Sub-committee on Committee Business a list of intended appointees in respect of whom a certificate has been received.

3. The Sub-committee shall meet at its own initiative, at the request of the Committee, or at the request of any member of the Sub-committee, to select from among the intended appointees referred to in paragraph 1 those intended appointees the Committee will review. Each member of the Sub-committee, other than the Chair, may choose one or more of the intended appointees for review from the certificates provided by the Clerk of the Committee.

4. The Sub-committee shall report to the Committee on the intended appointees for review. Upon receiving the report, the Committee shall determine a date for the review of the intended appointees as selected by the members of the Sub-committee. The report shall specify the amount of time allocated for the consideration of each intended appointee and the date on which each will be reviewed. An equal amount of time shall be allocated for review of each member's selections, and where a member of the Sub-committee has selected more than one intended appointee the time available to review that member's selections shall be allocated among his or her selections.

5. Upon notice from the Clerk of the Committee that an intended appointee has been selected for review, the minister shall ensure that the Committee receives a copy of the intended appointee's résumé or biographical information and a description of the responsibilities of the position.

6. A Sub-committee member may choose to defer the consideration of one or more of the intended appointees that the member has chosen until a future meeting of the Committee at which intended appointees are to be reviewed so long as the consideration of the intended appointee has not previously been deferred.

7. In reviewing an intended appointee, the Committee shall not call as a witness any person other than the intended appointee.

8. At the conclusion of the meeting held to review an intended appointment, the Committee shall determine whether or not it concurs in the intended appointment. Any member may request that the Committee defer its determination to the next meeting of the Committee, but in any event no later than 7 calendar days. In its report, the Committee shall state whether or not it concurs in the intended appointments and may state its reasons.

9. Whether or not the House stands adjourned, the Committee shall release its report by depositing it the same day with the Clerk of the House and upon receipt of the report by the Clerk the report shall be deemed to be adopted by the House.

10. A report that the Committee will not review an intended appointee shall be deemed to have been made by the Committee and adopted by the House in any of the following cases:

(a) a report respecting the intended appointee has not been made by the Committee within 30 calendar days following the day on which the minister tables the certificate referred to in paragraph 1,

(b) the Sub-committee does not at its first meeting following the day on which the minister tables the certificate select the intended appointee for review, or

(c) the intended appointee has not been selected for review by the Sub-committee within 14 days following the day on which the minister tabled the certificate.

11. The Committee by unanimous agreement may extend any of the deadlines in paragraph 10.

12. The Clerk of the Committee shall give the minister who tabled the certificate written notification of any decision respecting the appointment made by the Committee or the Sub-committee on Committee Business.

13. During any adjournment of the House that exceeds 1 week, the Committee shall meet on such day or days as may be determined by the Sub-committee, but in any event not more than 3 times per month.