AMCTO is lending its support to the Association of Municipalities Ontario (AMO) regarding concerns municipal governments have with the recently amended Construction Act and its force date of October 1, 2019. 

AMCTO is providing a letter of support to the Ministry of the Attorney General to consider four amendments as outlined by AMO to the Construction Act: 
 

• Owners should be provided more than 14 days to publish a notice of non-payment to ensure that due diligence is completed before payment of a proper invoice is required (e.g. 21 business days);

• The time period between December 24th to January 2nd of each calendar year should be excluded from the calculation of time with respect to Prompt Payment and Adjudication;

• The date for implementing the Prompt Payment and Adjudication regimes should be postponed from October 1, 2019 to 1-year following the establishment of the Authorized Nominating Authority (ANA); and

• That the Ministry create and communicate practice guides, interpretation bulletins, and webinars in alignment with Recommendations 97 & 98 of the Expert Panel’s Report to educate owners, contractors, and subcontractors of the new regimes 

AMCTO is namely concerned about the force date of the Construction Act because the necessary processes are not in place from the province and does not allow municipal governments to plan appropriately for its implementation. Significant time, beyond October 1st, 2019, will be required for local governments to set up a central database for lien claims, and create a process across legal, human resources, engineering, and other functional areas to ensure compliance with the legislation.

AMCTO will continue to monitor this file and provide updates when they are available.