Bill 130: Changes
to Municipal Act
(Monday, July 17, 2006) -- Last month the Government
of Ontario introduced Bill 130, changes to the Municipal
Act, changes that would give municipalities broader
powers in governance, accountability, financial
management, and more, including more control over
business and BIAs, but do not include new taxation powers
Here is the link to Bill
130, the Municipal Statute Law Amendment Act.
The bill is rather long so I suggest that you just look
at the Proposed
Muncipal SL Amendment Act (only
two pages long and spells out exactly the changes as they
would pertain to us in Ottawa).
- Business Regulation — Municipalities would
have broad powers to license businesses, subject
to certain limits. Specific new powers would
provide municipalities with the authority to
administratively suspend a licence prior to a
hearing where there was a danger to health or
safety. Municipalities would also be able to
require the payment of an administrative penalty
for failure to comply with any part of a system
of licences.
- Economic Development — Ministerial approval,
rather than existing Cabinet approval, would be
required for a municipality to establish a small
business incubator program.
- Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) —
Municipalities would have the authority to
establish bylaws for their own rules and
conditions for BIAs within their jurisdictions.
The current BIA rules and conditions in the
Municipal Act, 2001 would continue if a
municipality did not determine its own rules and
conditions.
The Business Advisory Committee will be discussing
this piece of legislation at their meeting the week of
July 24th. The McGuinty government intends on having
these changes in place for the November 13 election.
-- 30--
Close window
|