Amendments to Construction Act – Bill 57, the Restoring Trust, Transparency and Accountability Act, 2018

  • November 30, 2018
  • Lena Wang, Glaholt LLP

On November 15, 2018, the Ontario Legislative Assembly introduced Bill 57, the Restoring Trust, Transparency and Accountability Act, 2018. If passed, this omnibus bill would amend the Construction Act, along with a number of other acts.

The Construction Act (the "Act"), which received Royal Assent on December 12, 2017, introduced substantive changes to the Construction Lien Act in two stages. The first set of substantive changes came into effect on July 1, 2018, and the remaining changes are scheduled to come into force on October 1, 2019. Against this backdrop, Schedule 8 of Bill 57, when enacted, will amend the Act in several key respects. A summary of the significant amendments are set out below.[1]

Transitions provision: Overview

Section 87.3 of the Act will be repealed and the following substituted. In addition, a new section 87.3(3) and (4) will be added, so that the complete section 87.3 will read as follows: