The provincial government recently passed legislation that includes amendments to the  Construction Act. Bill 216, Building Ontario for You Act, 2024, was introduced on October 30 and swiftly passed into legislation one week later on  November 6. This omnibus bill includes changes to the Construction Act  falling into three main areas:

·         access to statutory adjudication;

·         mandatory annual release of holdback; and

·         other housekeeping amendments.

Given the government’s desire to move this legislation, public consultations were not conducted on it. However, based on the OAA’s preliminary review, it is clear these amendments pick up on key themes that the Association has had the opportunity to comment on in the past, including expanding statutory adjudication to include pre-construction design services and simplifying payments.

To learn more about the changes included in Bill 216, check out this article published by law firm, McMillan LLP.

OAA staff are working on updating relevant Practice Tips regarding these changes.