Resources, Articles, & Advocacy
Legislative Update | April 22, 2025
Your OBA LegUp Policy and Legislative Update Week of April 14
New Session Begins at Queen's Park: Tuesday's throne speech, delivered by Lt.-Gov. Edith Dumont, kicked off the new session of Premier Doug Ford’s third majority government. It leaned heavily on the theme of Ford’s successful election campaign, which tied the tariff threat to nearly every sector.
Legislative Update | April 07, 2025
Your OBA LegUp Policy and Legislative Update Week of April 7
Province Wants More Strong Mayors: Ontario is proposing to expand strong mayor powers to the heads of council in 169 additional municipalities starting in May. The province said on Wednesday that the expansion would help ensure municipalities have the tools they need to reduce obstacles to new housing and infrastructure developments. The additional municipalities would include the City of Orillia, the Township of Uxbridge, the Town of Wasaga Beach, the Township of King, and the Town of Collingwood. The government first granted the powers to the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa in 2022, and since then has expanded them a few times. Public comments on the proposal may be submitted via email until April 16, 2025.
Legislative Update | March 31, 2025
Your OBA LegUp Policy and Legislative Update Week of March 24
OBA Seeks "Urgency, Transparency and Accountability" from LSO: In an op-ed published on Thursday, the OBA urged the Law Society of Ontario to deal quickly with the current crisis and then shift its focus from the insular considerations of how to govern itself to the vital work of governing. “These are hard times for the rule of law, access to justice and our economic stability. Lawyers have a critical role to play," OBA President Kathryn Manning wrote. “We must get past this issue and turn our efforts to these fundamental matters. The only way past this issue is to chart a straightforward course through; there is no getting around it. We look forward to working with the many benchers who recognize that.”
Submission | November 18, 2024
LSO Increased Transparency Proposal
The OBA provides feedback to the Law Society of Ontario recommending it reject the Increased Transparency proposal as outlined. The public protection goals are important shared objectives, but the proposal has an extreme imbalance between the risks to licensees and the profession, and those public protection goals. We urge the LSO to work with legal stakeholders on an updated proposal that achieves the necessary balance for the profession and the public.
Advocacy | May 10, 2024
Your OBA LegUp Policy and Legislative Update Week of May 6
Safeguarding Students: The Ontario government plans to introduce regulatory changes through legislation that would create protections to better safeguard students’ information from being stolen or used inappropriately while on school devices. In a news release, the province said future regulations could include age-appropriate standards for software programs on devices, like laptops, used by students at school, as well as stronger standards for software procurement to avoid the use or selling of student data for predatory marketing by third parties.
Legislative Update | May 06, 2024
Your OBA LegUp Policy and Legislative Update Week of April 29
PCs Win Two Byelections: Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative candidates won both Ontario byelections by convincing margins on Thursday. PC candidate Zee Hamid won by more than 2,400 votes, or nine percentage points, while fellow PC Steve Pinsonneault drew 57 per cent of the votes in the Tory stronghold of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex.
