Summary#

The Pandemic and Emergency Preparedness Act, 2022 is an enacted Ontario law. It creates two Acts and amends five others. Its stated goal is to improve emergency preparedness and support public services; these are aims, not guaranteed results.

• Emergency programs must assess hazards, identify needed goods and resources, and report that information to Emergency Management Ontario. The Solicitor General must make a provincial emergency plan, run training and exercises, publish annual progress reports, review the plan at least every five years, and publish an emergency accountability framework.
• The Ontario Food Terminal Board must make and maintain a plan for keeping operations going during emergencies. The Minister may direct the Board to use the plan; temporary operations at another location may last no more than 30 days at a time.
• The Minister must maintain prescribed supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) and certain critical supplies and equipment. The Minister may provide supply-chain services, including procurement, logistics, inventory, contracts and surplus disposal. Government and public-sector entities must use those services if the Minister gives them notice.
• The law allows regulations on electronic access to health records and on Ontario Health Teams’ collection, use and disclosure of personal health information. It also sets new rules for health-profession registration, including limits on requiring Canadian experience, subject to regulatory exemptions.
• Ministers may fund employers to increase employees’ compensation under programs set out in regulations. Those programs may be temporary or permanent and may have different eligibility rules for different employee groups.

What it means for you#

• Public servants and government agencies: Their emergency programs must identify risks, infrastructure at risk, and the goods, services and resources needed to respond. They must provide related information annually and when the Chief requests it. The provincial plan must guide relevant emergency plans.
• Food supply and Ontario Food Terminal users: The Agriculture Minister must report on the safety and stability of Ontario’s food supply. The Food Terminal Board must plan for emergency continuity, including temporary use of another location. The law does not guarantee that food supplies will remain stable.
• Public and health-sector buyers: A government or prescribed public-sector entity must obtain the Minister’s supply-chain services for specified items after receiving notice. The Minister may set public policies for prioritizing supplies. Other organizations may receive services only under an agreement and if this will not harm service to government and public-sector entities. Individuals may receive services under the same no-negative-impact condition.
• People seeking health-profession registration: Colleges must follow language-proficiency rules set by regulation. They cannot require Canadian experience unless regulations provide an exemption. Each College Council must establish an emergency registration class that meets regulatory requirements. The law also allows regulations to set decision time limits; it does not itself set those limits.
• Patients: Regulations may authorize the Agency to specify electronic formats for accessing health records. Regulations may also set conditions and safeguards for Ontario Health Teams’ handling of personal health information. The Act does not itself set all those rules.
• Employees covered by a compensation program: Funding must be used to increase compensation for eligible employees. For prescribed programs, an employer does not need a union agreement to make the payments, and a complaint under either of two named labour laws cannot be made about the program payment. The law also limits claims against the Crown related to the Act and programs; it does not make funded employees Crown employees.
• People and businesses reselling supplies: It is an offence to sell or offer to sell PPE or critical supplies obtained through the Minister’s supply-chain services without charge or a fee. Fines range from $100 to $20,000 for an individual and $20,000 to $250,000 for a corporation.

Money#

The law requires some spending and permits funding and cost-recovery fees, but no cost estimate is provided.

• The Minister must maintain prescribed PPE and critical supplies. The Minister may charge fees to recover costs of goods or services provided under that Act.
• Ministers may fund employers for compensation increases; the law does not require them to do so or set an amount.
• Emergency training, planning, reports and staffing duties may require resources. The law gives no cost estimate.
• No publicly available information on total costs, funding amounts or expected savings is in the supplied material.

What is unclear#

• Regulations determine which supplies must be kept, in what amounts and to what standards; they also shape eligibility for compensation programs and health-registration rules.
• The supplied material does not give the dates when provisions requiring a proclamation took effect. The emergency-management amendments and PPE Act require a proclamation; some health-profession rules do too.
• The law does not specify how the Solicitor General will measure progress on the emergency plan, or what happens if the accountability framework is not followed.
• The scope of the prescribed public-sector entities, PPE and “critical supplies and equipment” depends on regulations.
• The law does not state the amounts or recipients of compensation funding, or explain how Ontario Health Teams will be involved in practice.

Case for#

• The bill appears intended to address gaps in emergency planning by requiring risk assessments, resource inventories, a provincial response plan and regular progress reports.
• A centralized PPE supply system could help coordinate procurement and inventory across government entities. Public reporting and prioritization policies could make parts of that system visible.
• Emergency registration classes and limits on Canadian-experience requirements could make health-profession registration more adaptable during emergencies and remove one barrier for applicants.
• Compensation programs could direct funding to employees whose work supports public services, while allowing program-specific eligibility rules.

Case against#

• The law creates broad duties and powers, but many practical rules depend on regulations that are not included here. The costs, supply levels and eligibility rules are therefore unclear.
• Central supply-chain decisions can affect which entities receive supplies and when. The law allows prioritization policies but does not set the priorities in the Act.
• The emergency framework must be followed by named officials and any prescribed ministers, but the Act does not set out a separate enforcement process.
• Compensation programs can exclude employees who are not eligible, and the law restricts some labour complaints and claims related to the programs. Eligibility and dispute details depend on regulations.