Summary#
Bill 72, the Buy Ontario Act, 2025, is enacted as Ontario law. It creates the Buy Ontario Act (Public Sector Procurement), 2025, repeals the Building Ontario Businesses Initiative Act, 2022, and amends the Highway Traffic Act and Legislation Act, 2006. Its stated goal is to use public procurement to support Ontario’s economy and supply chains; that is a goal, not a guaranteed result.
- The Management Board of Cabinet may issue procurement directives that public sector entities must follow. Directives may favour Ontario- or Canadian-made goods and services, limit who can bid, set vendor standards, require reporting, and require compliance or enforcement measures.
- Public sector entities using a third-party supply chain manager must require that contractor to follow applicable requirements too. The Act covers government entities and designated broader public sector organizations; regulations may add others.
- For designated broader public sector organizations and prescribed entities, the Board may direct that funding be withheld for non-compliance. If non-compliance continues past March 31 after withholding is directed, the entity loses entitlement to that withheld amount.
- The Minister may review any public sector entity’s compliance, require cooperation and access to records, publish findings, or direct corrective action.
- The Highway Traffic Act changes let the Minister direct municipalities to install certain signs near schools in community safety zones; the Minister may install them if a municipality does not comply.
- Listed provisions of the Protecting Condominium Owners Act, 2015 are exempted from automatic repeal on December 31, 2025. The exception provisions themselves are set to be repealed on January 1, 2027.
What it means for you#
- Public sector entities: They must follow any procurement directives that apply to them. The Act itself does not set a particular Ontario-preference rule; the Board may set one by directive.
- Businesses bidding for public contracts: A directive may give preference to Ontario or Canadian goods or services, restrict eligibility, or impose vendor performance requirements. Which businesses or contracts are affected depends on the directives.
- Supply-chain management contractors: If contracted by a public sector entity, their contract must require them to comply with the entity’s applicable requirements.
- Municipalities: A municipality receiving a sign-installation directive must comply, including by any deadline in the directive. It must also provide requested information by the date the Minister sets. If it does not install the signs, the Minister may enter the municipal highway to do so; people must not obstruct the installation.
- Drivers and school communities: The Highway Traffic Act now allows regulations requiring flashing amber signals with certain signs, but the bill does not itself require those signals to be used.
- Condominium owners: The law prevents the listed provisions from automatic repeal on December 31, 2025. The materials do not explain what each provision does.
- People affected by procurement decisions: The Act bars many claims for compensation or other remedies connected to the Act and its directives. It preserves applications for judicial review and claims for constitutional remedies.
Money#
No cost information is in the available material.
- The Act authorizes withholding some or all amounts payable to certain non-compliant entities, but gives no estimate of amounts affected.
- It requires public sector entities to pass applicable requirements to supply-chain managers, but gives no estimate of added administrative or business costs.
- The Minister may arrange sign installation if a municipality fails to comply. The materials give no cost estimate or say who would pay.
What is unclear#
- The bill does not set out actual procurement preferences, eligibility limits, vendor standards, or reporting rules. These depend on directives that may be issued later.
- It gives no timeline for issuing procurement directives, and does not specify how entities or vendors can challenge a directive or a compliance finding.
- The Act permits directives to incorporate other governments’ policies, including later amendments. The materials do not identify which policies will be used.
- The materials do not list any prescribed entities, or explain how the new procurement rules will interact with existing programs.
- The Highway Traffic Act text does not say which locations will receive sign directives or when amber-signal rules will be made. The parent Act was not supplied, so the prior operation of the amended Highway Traffic Act provisions could not be verified.
- The parent legislation was not supplied for the condominium change, so the effect of the listed provisions—and what happens after the exception provisions are repealed in 2027—could not be verified.
Case for#
- The bill appears intended to use public purchasing to support Ontario businesses and make supply chains more resilient.
- Giving the Board power to set procurement rules could allow government to apply consistent standards across different public sector entities.
- Vendor performance, reporting, and compliance requirements could give public buyers tools to monitor contracts, if the directives use those powers.
- The sign provisions give the Minister a way to ensure signs are installed when a municipality does not comply with a directive.
Case against#
- The Board receives broad power to set procurement rules, including rules that may restrict eligibility. The bill does not itself specify the limits or detail how those choices will be made.
- The Act allows funding to be withheld from certain organizations, and continued non-compliance past the stated date can make the withheld amount unavailable. The organization must try to limit effects on public services, but the bill does not set out protections for affected service users.
- The review process requires access to records, but the bill does not specify review timelines or a process for an entity to respond to findings before they are published or corrective action is ordered.
- Municipal sign installation could proceed despite other legal requirements, permits, or approvals. The bill does not explain how installation costs or disputes would be handled.
- The broad limits on legal claims could leave people or businesses with fewer ways to seek compensation for losses connected to the Act, although judicial review and constitutional remedies remain available.