AMCTO Policy Blog


Legislative and policy updates from Ontario's largest municipal professional association.
Announcement: Funding for Municipalities under the Safe Restart Agreement
2020-07-28 5:03:03 PM

On July 27 2020, the Province announced $4 billion in funding for Ontario municipalities through the Safe Restart Agreement which contributes federal and provincial funds to offset municipal operational costs ( $777 million federal + $1.22 billion provincial = $ 2 billion ) a...





Ontario Legislature Rises for the Summer
2020-07-27 12:45:33 PM

The Ontario Legislature rose for the summer on July 21 st and is expected to resume September 14th, 2020. A busy few months with various COVID related measures put in place, the following government bills were passed and received Royal Assent before the Legislature rose: ...





Regulation Changes – Liquor Delivery and Service on Licenced Boats
2020-07-20 11:12:15 AM

On July 16 th 2020, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario released two information bulletins on regulatory changes under the Liquor Licence Act (LLA). To assist the hospitality and tourism sector, amendments were made to Regulation 719 of the Act which allows Lice...





Catching Up On Recent News and Information
2020-07-17 10:45:08 AM

We are catching up on sharing a number of interesting pieces of news, reports, and other information on the municipal sector. Here are a few items of interest.    Assessment Review Board Training MFOA is holding a two part webinar on municipal involvement in Assessment R...





Communications From Deputy Registrar General on Marriage Licenses updates
2020-07-16 2:41:32 PM

Note: this post has been edited to fix a link. On July 13 th , the Deputy Ontario Registrar General sent two memos to Ontario Marriage license issuers:   The first memo was with regards to Provincial marriage license fees. As AMCTO posted about last week, Bill 197...





Bill 197, The COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act
2020-07-09 9:20:30 AM

On July 8, 2020, the Province introduced Bill 197, the COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act. This omnibus bill includes 20 schedules which amends multiple Acts. The Government has positioned the bill as addressing three critical needs Ontario faces: restarting jobs and development...





Communication from the Deputy Registrar General re: Death Registration
2020-07-08 4:36:04 PM

On July 6th, the Deputy Registrar General sent a memo to Ontario Division Registrars on the Submission of Death Registrations.   It was noted that the partnership between the Ontario Registrar General (ORG) and Ontario registrars has allowed this important service to conti...





OMERS Plan Changes
2020-06-24 4:27:09 PM

And...we are back!   We are gearing up to be a bit more regular in the next while, so bear with us!    In the meantime, we would like to share some news from our friends at OMERS.   As part of their 2020 Plan Review, the OMERS Sponsors Corporation Board made severa...





Open Call - COVID-19 Resource
2020-05-19 8:31:55 AM

Open Call is a cross-sector collaboration between the Canadian Digital Service, the Canada School of Public Service, and the nonprofit team at Code for Canada . This is an immediately available resource for municipalities today. Together, they have curated a catalogue of...





Ontario Building Code - Permits and Inspections to Continue
2020-05-14 9:40:43 AM

Earlier this week on May 11th, 2020, amendments were made to Ontario’s Building Code under O.Reg 209/20 . . This amendment requires that municipal building officials must continue to review permit applications and conduct inspections for all construction projects. This re...





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