Legislative Research

Ontario Workplace Tribunals Library

The Ins and Outs of Legislative Research

Peter Marques, Head LibrarianOntario Workplace Tribunals [email protected] on the 7th Floor – Please Visit for a Personal Tour

Monday, June 14, 2010 1


1. Overview of Online Resources

2. Tracking New Legislation

3. Amendments to Existing Legislation

4. e-Laws Period in Time Law Search

5. e-Laws Searching Tips

Agenda

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Official Acts and Regulations:e-Laws [e-laws.gov.on.ca]

Continually updated database of Ontario's statutes and regulations, both

consolidated and source law

Justice Laws [laws.justice.gc.ca]

Online source of the consolidated Acts and regulations of Canada. The

consolidations are generally updated every Tuesday morning.

Ontario Gazette [ontariogazette.gov.on.ca]

Published every Saturday, the Ontario Gazette published proclamations,

government notices, regulations, and more.

Canada Gazette [gazette.gc.ca]

The Canada Gazette contains formal public notices, official appointments, proposed

regulations, regulations and public Acts of Parliament from government departments

and agencies.

Overview of Online Resources

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Bills, Government Docs, Legislative Proceedings and

Debates (ON & Fed.):

Legislative Assembly of Ontario [ontla.on.ca]

• Bills : detailed information on current Bills before parliament and archived Bills from 1995 onwards.

• Hansard : debates search engine which all sessions from 1984 onwards• Committees : list of standing and select Committees, plus Committee

schedules, transcripts, and reports

Parliament of Canada [parl.gc.ca]

• Bills : all Bills before the Senate and the House from 1994 onwards• Hansard : access Federal debates from 1994 onwards• Committees : Committee business form 1997 onwards.


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Bills, Government Docs, Legislative Proceedings and

Debates (ON & Fed.):Our Ontario Government Documents [govdocs.ourontario.ca]

The Government Documents Collection is the result of a partnership between

OurOntario.ca and the Ontario Legislative Library to make available electronically

the government documents from the Legislative Library's collection

Archived Ontario Bills & Statutes Online:Internet Archives [archive.org]

The Internet Archives has all Ontario Bills and Revised Statutes of Ontario created

since 1867. To search the Internet Archives for Ontario Bills or Revised Statues of

Ontario:• go to http://www.archive.org/• in the search box type Bills Ontario / Statutes Ontario• in the “All Media Types” dropdown box select Texts


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Two Avenues:

Look at current Bills and recently enacted Laws • Legislative Assembly of Ontario Bills to track Bills and new Laws• e-Laws to track new laws

Remember - New legislation is Source Law which either:• Amends an existing Act, e.g. WSIA• Brings into power a new law and Act

Tracking New Legislation in Ontario

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When tracking new legislation there are some questions

you should ask:

• How do you get some background on the new Bill / Law?

• When does Bill become law?

• When is a Law in force?


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Digging Up Background Information on a Bill / Law

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Background on Bill / Law:

Explanatory Note• A brief summary of the content of a bill, written to assist readers. It accompanies

the bill through the legislative process. If a bill is enacted (i.e. becomes an Act), the Explanatory Note is dropped, because it does not form part of the law, e.g. Bill 11, 2010

• To search for explanatory notes to older Bills, it’s best to use the Internet Archives

Committee Materials Related to Bills• Search the Legislative Assembly of Ontario Committees and Bills pages• Committee materials will also include exhibits presented by stakeholders, and if

applicable, a legislative research report


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House Debate – What MPPs said• Use the House Hansard Search to do a search of all debates on a Bill or topic

from 1984 onwards

Government Documents Repository• Search for government documents like press releases, ministry statements,

reports, and committee materials (e.g. exhibits) at Our Ontario Government Documents


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Ministry Press Releases• Search / Track (RSS) Ministry / Government press releases, you may find

detailed backgrounders and sometimes they may include a Minister’s statements, e.g. Ministry of Labour, Government News

News / Dailies• Sometimes stakeholders will submit letters / articles outlining the pros and cons

of a new bill, with the goal of generating public interest and support for there cause


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Becoming Law - 3rd Reading and Royal Assent:

• When a bill is passed by the Legislative Assembly after Third Reading, the Lieutenant Governor assents to the bill by signing it. The bill is thereby enacted and becomes an Act (law), e.g. Workplace Safety and Insurance Amendment Act, 2008, S.O. 2008, c. 20 - Bill 119


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Royal Assent – It’s Law, is it In Force?

• When a Bill passes 3rd Reading, receives Royal Assent, and is included in e-Laws (and consolidated if an amending Act) it does not necessarily mean it’s in force, e.g. see again Workplace Safety and Insurance Amendment Act, 2008, S.O. 2008, c. 20 - Bill 119

• Always Read the Commencement section of the Act!!!!

• Always remember to check the proclamations table:• Table of Proclamations


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Once a Bill has become Law,

what happens to it?

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Source Law and Consolidated Law

• Source Law may be a new Act or regulation (called the parent), an amending Act or regulation (it amends the parent)

• Consolidated Law is a statute or regulation into which are incorporated any amendments that have been enacted by a new law (i.e. Source Law)

• There are a few ways to check for amendments:• Check the Last amended note on the “e-Laws” Consolidated Act, e.g.

Amendments to Existing Legislation

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To check for all the amendments to an Act (e.g. the WSIA) on e-Laws best to use

the Detailed Legislative History table:• Consolidated Public Statutes - Detailed Legislative History

• Provides a detailed history of all amending Acts• All Amendments to the Act listed by provision (section, subsection, clause, etc.),

e.g. see section 43(2)(b) re-enacted in 2007, c. 7, Sch. 41, s. 2(1)


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When we check 2007, c. 7, Sch. 41, s. 2(1) for section 43(2)(b), we find the

following :


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How do we check to see the text of what was repealed in

43 (2) (b)?

e-Laws Period in Time Law searchingA database of current and historical versions of consolidated statutes and

regulations that is searchable by date, enabling the user to find different

consolidated versions of a law as they read during different periods in time. A

historical version of a consolidated statute or regulation is available on e-Laws

Only if the statute or regulation is amended or affected by a coming into force

event after January 1, 2004.

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Search of period in time law by Act title – 15 items, 2 hits per item:

e-Laws Period in Time Law Search

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Search of period in time law by section and Act title – 15 items, 59+ hits per item:

e-Laws Period in Time law Search

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e-Laws Period in Time Law search will always bring up the same results when

applied to a specific Act (unless a date restriction is applied), the only difference is

The results’ “hits” document-level navigation which is based on your search terms:


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However, if you are really determined to focus on period in time law for a specific

section it’s best to search the specific section and terms:

Note: Use the date option if you want to search an exact date to identify what

the law was on that very day. WSIA PIT search covers 2003 onwards.


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A Few Key Notes to Remember

About PIT Law Research• An historical version of a consolidated statute or regulation is available on e-

Laws Only if the statute or regulation is amended or affected by a coming into force event after January 1, 2004.

• PIT Law Research for amendments made prior to the most historical version available on e-Laws, e.g. for the WSIA it’s the historical version for the period March 15, 2003 to June 16, 2004, will need to be pursued using the traditional print records

…to track amendments using print resources we highly recommend you contact us.


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A Few Tips to Help You Search e-Laws

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Search within Sections : use in same text segment as, this search command, \0\,

will search the segment of text between two hard returns, e.g. a section. If you want

to search a number of consecutive sections you can specify in the command, e.g.

43 \6\ disability payments

will search within 6 text segments for search terms “43” and “disability

payments”

Search within a Section or Number of Words : use within # of words, this search

command - /#/ - will search documents which contain specified search terms within

a specified # of words of each other within the same text segment, e.g.

review /10/ payments \7\ 44(1)

will search for “review” within 10 words of “payments”, and within 7 text

segments of search term (e.g. section)” 44(1)”

e-Laws Searching Tips

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Exclude Terms : use except, this search command will not search for the term

following the operator within a single text segment, e.g.

fund "except" calculation \10\ 96

will search for “fund” within 10 text segments of search term “96” but exclude

the term “calculation”

Wildcard Searches : use the wildcard symbol, and asterisk *, when you need to

replace one or more characters at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a

word, e.g.

worker* \5\ ***entry

will search “worker”, “workers”, “workers”, “worker’s” and “re-entry” within 5

segments of text


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Boolean Command Search : this is a do-all search structure which allows you to

combine different strategies using the “and”, “or”, and “parentheses” operators , e.g.

(cease* /40/ payment*) \0\ (earning* "and" (age "or" per cent))

will search “cease” / “ceases” within 40 words of “payment” / “payments”, and

within the 1 text segment of the terms “age” or “per cent”


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The Ontario Workplace Tribunals Library is open Monday to Friday from8:30am to 5pm.

If you have any questions or need help with your research please call ourReference Desk at 416 314-3700 or e-mail us at [email protected].

Please visit us at owtlibrary.on.ca

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Legislative Research