Private Members Bills

Recall Act, 2004

This proposed legislation builds on recall provisions put in place in a number of states and provinces across North America.   In fact, 15 states in the United States employ recall for elected state officials, and most states allow the recall of elected local officials.   Half of these jurisdictions adopted recall before the First World War.   In 1935, William Aberhart passed Alberta's Recall Act , only to repeal it abruptly a year later as the voters made a serious attempt to recall the Premier himself.   British Columbia is currently the only province with the recall option in Canada.

In the case of The Recall Act, 2004 , any elected member may be recalled for conduct unbecoming a member after a year in office, and a Premier would be subject to a province-wide recall process in which all the qualified voters in the province may participate .

Farm Implements Act

On June 6, 2001 MPP Barrett introduced legislation to protect farm implement dealers and farmers.  The Private Members Bill calls for amendments to the Farm Implements Act, with its main objectives being:

To remove dealer purity from dealer/distributor agreements and allow dealers to sell farm machinery from any distributor or manufacturer;

To protect dealers from termination without cause;

To discourage distributors from imposing discriminatory contracts on individual dealers;

The Private Members Bill is appropriately titled An Act to Ensure Fairness, Foster Competition and Consumer Choice, and Encourage Innovation in the Farm Implement Sector; otherwise known as Bill 76.  The amendments Barrett introduced have received the support of the Ontario Retail Farm Equipment Dealers Association (ORFEDA), which represents Ontario farm machinery dealers. For far too long large manufacturers have been using dealer purity policies or exclusivity clauses to prevent dealers from selling other products. This trend is threatening the economic survival of dealers, shortline manufacturers and the rural communities in which they are located. Many Ontario dealers comply with the manufacturers demands in order to save their livelihood.

Municipal Policitians Act

On January 1, 2001, we saw the counties of Norfolk and Haldimand join the united Brant County at the restructured table. The Fewer Municipal Politicians Act, has reduced the number of politicians in Haldimand and Norfolk from 63 to 16 while Brant County remains at 15.

Back in 1998, Barrett had introduced a Private Members Bill titled: An Act to Eliminate the Regional Level of Municipal Government in Norfolk and Haldimand, to Cut Duplication and Save Taxpayer Money which was fought as an election issue in 1999.

Once the Conservatives were re-elected Barrett’s Bill gave way to the Fewer Municipal Politicians Act, which reduced the number of municipal politicians across Ontario to 2,804, down from 4,586 in 1995. It also reduced the number of municipalities to 447 from 648.

Ontario Marine Heritage Act

On November 10, 1999, the 24th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Toby Barrett announced his intention to introduce the Ontario Marine Heritage Act in the Ontario Legislature. 

For years, divers, historians, and conservationists have argued that a new marine heritage act is needed to ensure that the hundreds of wrecks lying in Ontario’s waters are protected. Changes that Barrett proposed in the Ontario Marine Heritage Act are now encompassed within the amended Ontario Heritage Act.

As well as increasing protection for significant marine heritage sites, the amendments would give the government authority to protect heritage resources by providing for:

Powers to designate provincially significant built heritage;

Standards and guidelines for identifying and protecting provincially-owned heritage property;

Standard designation criteria and other improvements to the municipal designation process;

Measures to streamline and strengthen protection of heritage conservation districts; and 

Updated and streamlined agency provisions for the Ontario Heritage Foundation and  Conservation Review Board.