Part 3: Making Ontario work better for you

Time is one of our most precious and finite resources. We’ve all spent hours standing in endless lines to get a document replaced or a licence renewed. While 82% of customers accessing in-person health card, licence and vital events services are assisted in less than 20 minutes, that doesn’t account for the time to get to a centre, find parking or exit public transit, and then make your way home. That time can be better spent with family, on the job, or simply doing the things we enjoy.

By digitizing the relationship between Ontarians and their government services, we’re working to save valuable time and money every single day. In 2018 to 2019, 92% of Ontarians went online to access birth certificate services. That means over 317,000 people were able to complete this vital service, on their schedule and at a time that was most convenient to them.

Since the launch of the new fish and wildlife licensing service last year, nearly half of all Ontarians who purchase hunting and fishing licences have chosen to do so from the comfort of home, saving themselves countless hours by not having to drive to their nearest licence issuer or wait in line.

Actions to date

Reducing Ontario’s regulatory burden is not just about helping people at work, it’s also about helping them in their everyday life by freeing them to make choices that suit them.

Standardizing Recycling

In August, our government announced that we would transfer the Blue Box program to producer responsibility and make it more consistent. When you’re ready to dispose of your coffee cup and its lid, you will know where to put them — whether you’re at home in Brampton, at work in Toronto or with the family at Science North in Sudbury. Right now, a paper coffee cup goes in the garbage in Toronto, but in the green bin in Hamilton and the blue bin in Markham. We’re working to have one standard across the province and simplify recycling rules to make it easier and more efficient to process our waste.

Freezing Workplace Safety and Insurance Board rates for not-for-profits

Ontario’s not-for-profit organizations, like food banks, daycares and soup kitchens, do a great deal of good in communities across the province — so it’s essential that we help them help others. That’s why we announced a freeze on workplace safety insurance rate increases for not-for-profit organizations, enabling them to focus their resources on the good work that they do.

Increasing the scope of pharmacists

Ontario’s pharmacists are highly skilled. In April 2019, to help free up our doctors and nurse practitioners to care for more complex patient needs and to save families time in multiple waiting rooms, we committed to expanding the scope of pharmacists to treat minor ailments by prescribing and administering certain drugs and renewing certain prescriptions for up to one year.

Letting kids be kids

We’ve expanded authorized recreational programs that operate before or after school to include children aged four and five, not just children aged six and up, by amending the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014. This simple change provides access to programming for up to three hours a day — making life easier for parents, especially those re-entering the workplace.

Electronic proof of insurance and free licence status checks

We carry banking information, travel plans, and everything in between on our smartphones. We announced in September 2019 that Ontario drivers would be able to carry proof of insurance on their smartphones. Consumers now have the option of keeping an electronic insurance card on their mobile device instead of, or in addition to, a paper version. We also modernized the online driver’s licence check service and made it free for drivers to be able to check the status of their licences before getting behind the wheel. 

What we’re doing: Better for People, Smarter for Business Act, 2019

The Better for People, Smarter for Business Act, 2019 will continue our sensible approach to fixing what’s wrong with government regulation. By helping charitable organizations help others. By giving you faster access to life-saving medicine. By letting you bring Rex out for brunch with you on your favourite patio. And much more.

Getting out of the way of community feeding organizations, religious charities and food banks that are doing good work in our communities

Community feeding organizations, which may include food banks and religious charities, are committed to serving others and feeding the less fortunate among us. Currently, Ontario doesn’t distinguish between full-service chain restaurants and the various not-for-profit soup kitchens, before and after school programs and new and innovative food rescue and delivery organizations.

As a result, these charitable organizations are left with a confusing and convoluted set of rules through which to navigate. They’re forced to spend needless hours trying to understand what applies to them and what doesn’t so they can continue their good work in our communities.

To better help them help others, Ontario is launching a consultation to create a separate, tailored set of requirements for these organizations, protecting public health and safety while ensuring that they can focus on feeding those in need rather than spending their time and money complying with the full range of regulatory requirements that apply to other food premises.

Allowing restaurants and breweries to decide whether to allow dogs on their patios

Ontarians love their pets. But today, pet owners are not allowed to bring their dogs with them onto restaurant patios, unless they are service animals, which means business owners miss out on potential customers.

They are also not allowed to bring them to a brewery where only beverages, low-risk and/or pre-packaged foods are served. Dog owners know how frustrating this can be — especially since dining rules in other parts of Canada, like New Brunswick and B.C. are more relaxed (not to mention other parts of the world like Paris, Tokyo, London and New York City).

That’s why we’re proposing to ease the restrictions and enable food premises operators to decide whether to allow dogs in outdoor eating areas, like patios, and inside food premises where only beverages, pre-packaged and/or low risk foods are served. At the same time, the Ministry of Health will develop an education and awareness campaign to ensure business owners and public health inspectors are aware of these changes. It will mean more business for those who serve food and make it easier for dog owners to enjoy a meal when they are out with family and their furry best friend.

Safeguarding our environment and protecting public health by creating strong, clear penalties for environmental violations

Ontario is blessed with some of the most breathtaking natural landscapes anywhere in Canada. We care about our waterways, farmlands, food quality, and the air we breathe. Our government is committed to safeguarding our environment and protecting public health for future generations.

That’s why we’re protecting what matters most by expanding the use of monetary penalties for environmental violations to hold polluters accountable, as committed to in our Made-In-Ontario Environment Plan.

The broader use of strong monetary penalties will allow the government to take strong action against illegal activity, protect our environment, and level the playing field for responsible businesses.

We are also proposing the launch of a new program, modeled on the Ontario Community Environment Fund, which will reinvest any collected penalties into local communities to fund environmental initiatives. This will support key priorities in the Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan to protect and preserve our air, land, water and parks.

Protecting seniors and families from drug shortages and reducing burdens on drug manufacturers to help expand access to lower-cost generic-like drugs

Ontario is home to many prescription drug manufacturers, who make significant investments to bring new drugs to market. Certain regulations and requirements have resulted in unnecessary burdens for drug manufacturers and pharmacists and make it more difficult for Ontario to provide seniors and families access to the drug products they need.

Based on the advice of drug manufacturers, pharmacists, and the Auditor General of Ontario, the government is creating the right conditions for businesses to thrive by modernizing requirements to align Ontario’s requirements with national processes, those in other provinces and territories, and the private sector.

Among the benefits, these changes will help to bring lower-cost generic medications to market in Ontario and nationally and help us respond to unmet needs in the event of potential drug shortages in the province.

Supporting Ontario’s colleges and universities in preparing students to meet labour market demands

We have some of the best educational institutions in the world, and some of the brightest students to fill them. Ontario is streamlining the process to review and approve new postsecondary programs and degrees to make it easier for universities and colleges to train students for jobs in high-demand and emerging fields.

Ontario is ending duplicative efforts between the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, Ontario’s quality assurance bodies and postsecondary institutions and making program approvals faster. These actions will speed up the review and approval process to help institutions offer new programs faster to meet job-market demands.

Currently, Ontario’s approval process for new programs and degrees can take up to two years, delaying when graduates reach the labour market. These changes will significantly reduce this approval timeline to three to six months, helping young people to train for high-demand and emerging jobs.

Empowering people to take greater control of their energy usage

Many people would benefit if they could better assess whether their usage is higher, lower, or in line with their neighbours. There’s no better way to take control of our in-home energy usage, and bring down costs, than by monitoring our use.

That’s why we’re currently exploring potential costs of expanding Green Button – Connect My Data to give Ontarians more choice and flexibility, including the ability to monitor their energy usage and make better choices about their energy usage.

This initiative is part of our ongoing efforts to respond to consumer demands, promote innovation in the sector, help the environment and drive energy savings.