Legislative Assembly of Ontario

The committee met at 1304 in committee room 1.

COMMITTEE BUSINESS

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the Standing Committee on the Legislative Assembly. We have three items on the agenda today. The first is a vote on the motion by Ms. Forster regarding Bill 49 by Mr. Prue, and I welcome Mr. Prue today. Second is the report of the subcommittee and third is the clause-by-clause consideration of Bill 14.

You all have a copy of Ms. Forster’s motion. Are there any questions on Ms. Forster’s, or does anyone want it read again? Okay, those in favour of Ms. Forster’s motion? All in favour? There’s nobody opposed? Okay, so it’s carried.

Mr. Michael Prue: Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): Thank God you were here, Mike.

Mr. Bas Balkissoon: Michael, you’re taking us out for dinner; you pay the tips.

SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): We’re now at item 2 in the agenda, the report of the subcommittee. Mr. Balkissoon, I understand you have a motion.

Mr. Bas Balkissoon: I have the report of the subcommittee, Mr. Chair.

Your subcommittee on committee business met on Wednesday, September 11, 2013, to consider a method of proceeding on Bill 95, An Act to establish a Financial Accountability Officer, should it pass second reading, and recommends the following:

(1) That, pursuant to the order of the House dated June 5, 2013, the committee hold public hearings on Bill 95 in Toronto on Thursday, September 19 and Monday, September 23, 2013, as required.

(2) That the Clerk of the Committee, with the authorization of the Chair, post information regarding public hearings on the Ontario parliamentary channel, the Legislative Assembly website and the Canada Newswire.

(3) That the former parliamentary budget officer, Kevin Page, be invited to make a presentation of up to 10 minutes, followed by up to three minutes of questions from each caucus.

(4) That interested parties who wish to be considered to make an oral presentation contact the committee Clerk by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, September 18, 2013.

(5) That groups and individuals be offered five minutes for their presentation, followed by up to three minutes of questions from each caucus.

(6) That witnesses be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis.

(7) That presentations not be scheduled during question period.

(8) That Monday, September 23, 2013, not be scheduled until Thursday, September 19, 2013, is fully scheduled.

(9) That the Clerk of the Committee, in consultation with the Chair, be authorized, prior to the passage of the report of the subcommittee, to commence making any preliminary arrangements necessary to facilitate the committee’s proceedings.

That’s the report of the subcommittee, Mr. Chair.

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): You’ve all heard the report. Are there any questions on the subcommittee’s report? Ms. Forster.

Ms. Cindy Forster: My question is, do we know how many actual people will be making presentations at this point?

The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. Trevor Day): The deadline is today at 5. As of coming to this meeting, all we have is Mr. Kevin Page.

Ms. Cindy Forster: Then could I, at this point, make an amendment to this motion, perhaps under number 3? At the moment we’ve only invited Kevin Page to present for up to 10 minutes, followed by three minutes of questions from each caucus. Could we amend that to, say, 20 minutes or 30 minutes, followed by 10 minutes for each party?

Mr. Bas Balkissoon: Mr. Chair?

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): Excuse me. I’ve heard the motion. A question on the motion?

Mr. Bas Balkissoon: I think it’s a fair request by the member, but until the deadline is passed it would be very difficult to vary what we discussed at subcommittee. I think it would be inappropriate, just in case.

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): What’s the timing on the amendment?

Ms. Cindy Forster: What was the timing of it?

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): Yes, that you mentioned.

Ms. Cindy Forster: Thirty minutes for Kevin Page and 10 minutes for each party for questions.

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): I don’t really have a problem, especially if it’s the first thing in the morning. Yes, go ahead, Mr. Ouellette.

Mr. Jerry J. Ouellette: The one thing I would suggest is that the time be divided equally to a maximum of what Ms. Forster specifically asked for, so that in the event that it is filled up or not filled up, the time would be equally distributed, to a maximum of what was mentioned by Ms. Forster. That way it accommodates her and anybody else who comes in with Bas’s suggestion.

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): We should have quite a bit of leeway. It’s first thing tomorrow morning, anyhow, and I think we can easily ask Mr. Page at that time if he can spend more time doing it.

The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. Trevor Day): Subject to his availability.

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): Yes.

The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. Trevor Day): It will be done by video conference. What I’m understanding here is that with 30 minutes and 10 minutes per caucus, we’re looking for an hour commitment from Mr. Page, subject to us not receiving further delegations that would fill that time.

Ms. Cindy Forster: Good.

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): Okay, that’s fine.

The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. Trevor Day): A question on the amendment?

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): All in favour of Ms. Forster’s amendment? That’s carried.

Then the whole report, as amended. In favour? Okay, that’s carried. Thank you very much.

1310

So that’s Bill 95. We’ll deal with that first thing tomorrow morning in room 151.

NON-PROFIT HOUSING
CO-OPERATIVES STATUTE LAW AMENDMENT ACT, 2013
LOI DE 2013 MODIFIANT DES LOIS
EN CE QUI CONCERNE
LES COOPÉRATIVES DE LOGEMENT
SANS BUT LUCRATIF

Consideration of the following bill:

Bill 14, An Act to amend the Co-operative Corporations Act and the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 in respect of non-profit housing co-operatives and to make consequential amendments to other Acts / Projet de loi 14, Loi modifiant la Loi sur les sociétés coopératives et la Loi de 2006 sur la location à usage d’habitation en ce qui concerne les coopératives de logement sans but lucratif et apportant des modifications corrélatives à d’autres lois.

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): We’re down to number 3, the clause-by-clause consideration of Bill 14, An Act to amend the Co-operative Corporations Act and the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 in respect of non-profit housing co-operatives and to make consequential amendments to other Acts. At this point, we have no amendments. Is there anyone who has further amendments?

I’d like to ask each caucus if they have anything they’d like to say, because my plan right now, if there are no amendments, is to clump them all into one motion, 1 to 60.

Mr. Clark?

Mr. Steve Clark: Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. My only comment is that I think we heard from a number of members in the delegation making suggestions on further changes, and I also made a comment during the public deputant process that if the committee—certainly I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to delay any piece of legislation that is before this committee for their deliberations, but I think at some point, once we clear the legislative deck, so to speak, this committee should consider whether we should do a review and have hearings to allow tenants and landlords and other people within the co-op industry to provide comments on other legislative changes that should be considered. I’m not suggesting that we deal with a study today, but I think once the legislation is finished, we should put it on a future agenda. I’m not trying to hold up anything, but I wanted to put those comments on the record.

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): Thanks, Mr. Clark.

Anybody from the NDP caucus have a comment on anything?

Ms. Cindy Forster: I just wanted to say a few words. The NDP would have proposed some amendments to this bill, particularly around the presentation that actually came from ACTO around the rent subsidy calculations, but we were informed, when we looked into that with leg counsel, that it would likely be ruled out of order, and so we’re not coming forward with any amendments at this time, but certainly we’re prepared to look at that in the future.

There were a number of individual stakeholders that came forward as well that perhaps are in co-ops that don’t run as effectively as other co-ops in the province, and some of their issues likely need to be addressed as well.

So I would actually concur that I would certainly be open to having a review of tenants’ issues and landlords’ issues in front of this committee somewhere in the future to hopefully address those concerns.

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): Thanks, Ms. Forster.

Anybody from the—yes, Mr. Mauro.

Mr. Bill Mauro: Thank you, Chair, and thank you to the opposition parties for their comments. We are extremely gratified to be here at this point today, given what’s been said already and being left with the understanding that we’re moving forward here quickly to get this bill back into the House.

We are in a position now where I’m not sure what the total time is that this bill has been before the Legislature, but we are extremely gratified to see it moving forward. I want to thank the opposition for their support, and we look forward to expeditiously having this back in the House for third reading.

Mr. Bas Balkissoon: Mr. Chair, could I just add a comment?

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): Yes, Mr. Balkissoon.

Mr. Bas Balkissoon: I just want to echo the sentiments of my colleagues on the other side, too, because, rightfully so, some other folks had shown up here with issues with co-operatives, and it’s unfortunate that the intent of this act was strictly to deal with the evictions and the Landlord and Tenant Board. The issues they raised are valid issues, and they would have had to be ruled out of order, as my colleague from the NDP realized.

The right place to do that is at another time and that issue being raised with the Minister of Housing, because rent subsidies fall under the municipalities or the service managers that are appointed in every region that deals with subsidized housing. It would be inappropriate to put that in front of the Landlord and Tenant Board, because they don’t normally deal with that type of issue.

I just want to make it clear that we do understand the comments that were put in front of us, yes, last week, but unfortunately this bill had an intent, and anything that would have been brought in from outside would have been ruled out of order. So hopefully that will come back when we clear the deck.

The Chair (Mr. Garfield Dunlop): Okay. Thank you very much, everyone. There are going to be four motions here.

I’m going to ask, will sections 1 to 60 pass? Okay, that’s carried.

Shall the title of the bill carry? Carried.

Shall Bill 14 carry? Carried.

Shall I report Bill 14 to the House? Agreed.

I want to thank you for getting so much productivity after last summer, when we were trying to do changes to the standing orders, which will never happen, I don’t think, by the way. Thank you to the committee. This meeting is adjourned until tomorrow at 9.

The committee adjourned at 1317.

CONTENTS

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Committee business M-69

Subcommittee report M-69

Non-profit Housing Co-operatives Statute Law Amendment Act, 2013, Bill 14, Mrs. Jeffrey / Loi de 2013 modifiant des lois en ce qui concerne les coopératives de logement sans but lucratif, projet de loi 14, Mme Jeffrey M-70

STANDING COMMITTEE ON THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

Chair / Président

Mr. Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North / Simcoe-Nord PC)

Vice-Chair / Vice-Présidente

Ms. Lisa MacLeod (Nepean–Carleton PC)

Mr. Bas Balkissoon (Scarborough–Rouge River L)

Mr. Steve Clark (Leeds–Grenville PC)

Mr. Grant Crack (Glengarry–Prescott–Russell L)

Mr. Vic Dhillon (Brampton West / Brampton-Ouest L)

Mr. Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North / Simcoe-Nord PC)

Ms. Cindy Forster (Welland ND)

Ms. Lisa MacLeod (Nepean–Carleton PC)

Mrs. Amrit Mangat (Mississauga–Brampton South / Mississauga–Brampton-Sud L)

Mr. Michael Mantha (Algoma–Manitoulin ND)

Substitutions / Membres remplaçants

Mrs. Laura Albanese (York South–Weston / York-Sud–Weston L)

Mr. Jerry J. Ouellette (Oshawa PC)

Clerk / Greffier

Mr. Trevor Day

Staff / Personnel

Mr. Jon Bricker, research officer,
Research Services

Ms. Susan Klein, legislative counsel