Yesterday, AMCTO President Paul Shipway and staff met with Attorney General Doug Downey and Parliamentary Assistant Monica Ciriello to discuss the need to review and improve the provincial offences system. We were pleased to have the opportunity to reintroduce the Attorney General to the important work of our members and our Association's Issue Profile.
Continuing our advocacy to reduce the administrative and reporting burdens established by other orders of governments, we talked about the need for municipalities to have modern provincial offences legislation. This includes having the right tools to ensure the efficient and effective administration of justice, enforcement, and fine collection (which is managed on behalf of the Province). We had a productive conversation about potential areas to make the provincial offences system work more efficiently including improving fine collection and increasing judicial resources dedicated to provincial offences courts.
We emphasized that to preserve access to justice for defendants and the ensure the integrity of the justice system, changes should be made to improve the ability for municipalities to collect fines that they are owed. We also re-iterated our support of AMO’s call for a third-party review of the Provincial Offences Act (POA) system in Ontario that would provide a comprehensive and holistic view and lead to practical solutions to improve the delivery of justice while reducing administrative burden on municipalities.
The Attorney General agreed that enhancing the partnership between municipalities and the Ministry of the Attorney General is important for a well-functioning provincial offences system. We reiterated that the ministry can continue to rely on our Association and the expertise of our members. We look forward to continuing to work with the Attorney General and ministry staff to bring forward much needed change to the provincial offences system in Ontario.
For more information or questions, please contact our policy and advocacy team.