{"id":11066,"date":"2015-06-17T19:11:29","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T23:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=11066"},"modified":"2015-07-02T11:31:18","modified_gmt":"2015-07-02T15:31:18","slug":"view-from-queens-park-spring-sitting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/view-from-queens-park-spring-sitting\/","title":{"rendered":"VIEW FROM QUEEN’S PARK: Spring Sitting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ontario Government Wraps Up a Successful Spring Sitting
\nBy Chris Ballard, MPP
\nNewmarket-Aurora<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Ontario legislature has wrapped up its spring sitting and I\u2019m looking forward to spending more time in the riding. The government made substantial progress in a number of key areas that I outlined below.
\nLast week marked the one year anniversary of my election as your Member of Provincial Parliament. I want to thank all of you who reach out to me with your questions and input on how to make this great riding, and Ontario, even better.
\n
\nSelect spring sitting bills that passed:
\n<\/em>
\nBill 6 – Infrastructure for Jobs and Prosperity Act, 2015
\nRequires the province to table a long-term infrastructure plan covering at least 10 years and support job creation, training opportunities, economic growth, environmental protection and design excellence.<\/p>\n

Bill 31 – Transportation Statute Law Amendment Act (Making Ontario\u2019s Roads Safer), 2015
\nStrengthens penalties for offences such as distracted driving in order to help keep Ontario\u2019s roads among the safest in North America.<\/p>\n

Bill 45 – Making Healthier Choices Act, 2015
\nProtects youth from the dangers of tobacco and the potential harm of electronic cigarettes; it will also help families make healthier food choices by giving them caloric information when they eat out or buy take-away meals.<\/p>\n

Bill 49 – Ontario Immigration Act, 2015
\nEnables Ontario to maximize the economic benefits of immigration by helping the province work with the federal government, strengthening efforts to reduce fraud and increasing transparency.<\/p>\n

Bill 56 – Ontario Retirement Pension Plan Act, 2015
\nLays out a framework to create a first-of-its-kind mandatory provincial pension plan that would provide a predictable stream of retirement income to eligible Ontarians.<\/p>\n

Bill 57 – Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act, 2015
\nProvides a framework for the establishment and administration of pooled registered pension plans (PRPPs) in Ontario \u2014 a voluntary, low-cost, tax-assisted option to increase retirement savings, available to employees and the self-employed.<\/p>\n

Bill 80 – Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Amendment Act, 2015
\nProhibits the acquisition and breeding of orcas (killer whales) in Ontario and allows the government to set administrative standards of care for marine mammals. <\/p>\n

Bill 103 – Protecting the School Year Act
\nProtects the school year for 72,000 public secondary students in Durham, Rainbow and Peel district school boards by ending local strikes by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation
\n
\nBills Introduced during spring sitting:<\/em><\/p>\n

Bill 66 – Great Lakes Protection Act, 2015
\nWould further strengthen protection of the Great Lakes by reducing harmful algal blooms, protecting wetlands, and monitoring and reporting on the health of the lakes.<\/p>\n

Bill 73 – Smart Growth for Our Communities Act, 2015
\nWould reform the Planning Act and the Development Charges Act to give residents a greater say in how their communities grow; it would also expand opportunities to fund community services such as transit and recycling.<\/p>\n

Bill 85 – Strengthening and Improving Government Act
\nWould strengthen and modernize a number of Ontario’s laws and regulations, including the Family Law Act, the Employment Standards Act and the Highway Traffic Act.<\/p>\n

Bill 100 – Supporting Ontario\u2019s Trails Act, 2015
\nWould protect and improve thousands of kilometres of Ontario\u2019s urban, suburban, rural and remote land and water trails network, while encouraging its expansion.<\/p>\n

Bill 109 – Employment and Labour Statute Law Amendment Act, 2015
\nWould amend the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act and the Fire Prevention and Protection Act to further ensure that the rights of injured workers and firefighters are protected. Would also amend the Public Sector Labour Relations Transition Act to support harmonious labour relations for employees in the broader public sector. <\/p>\n

Bill 112 – Strengthening Consumer Protection and Electricity System Oversight Act
\nWould enhance the capabilities of the Ontario Energy Board in order to further protect electricity ratepayers by boosting consumer protection, improving the ability to ensure continuity of service and enabling the government to identify priority transmission projects.<\/p>\n

Bill 113 – Police Record Checks Reform Act, 2015
\nWould set province-wide standards for the types of police record checks available across Ontario, and by directing which information can and cannot be released to ensure public safety and protect personal privacy.<\/p>\n

Bill 115 – Electoral Boundaries Act, 2015
\nWould increase the number of provincial ridings in southern Ontario to 111 to align with the new federal boundaries while maintaining the 11 existing ridings in northern Ontario.<\/p>\n

If you would like to contact me on any issue, please call my community office at 905-750-0019, or visit my website at www.ChrisBallardMPP.ca. I look forward to hearing from you.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ontario Government Wraps Up a Successful Spring Sitting By Chris Ballard, MPP Newmarket-Aurora The Ontario legislature has wrapped up its spring sitting and I\u2019m looking forward to spending more time in the riding. The government made substantial progress in a number of key areas that I outlined below. Last week marked the one year anniversary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-2Su","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-21 04:07:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11066\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}