The committee met at 0900 in committee room 1.

Protecting Ontario’s Food Independence Act, 2026 Loi de 2026 visant à protéger l’autonomie alimentaire de l’Ontario

Consideration of the following bill:

Bill 109, An Act to enact the Farmland Security Act, 2026 and to amend various Acts / Projet de loi 109, Loi édictant la Loi de 2026 visant à protéger l’autonomie alimentaire de l’Ontario et modifiant diverses lois.

The Chair (Mr. Aris Babikian): Good morning, colleagues. The Standing Committee on the Interior will now come to order. We are here for clause-by-clause consideration of Bill 109, An Act to enact the Farmland Security Act, 2026 and to amend various acts. Are there any questions before we begin?

Bill 109 is comprised of the preamble, three sections and nine schedules. To deal with the bill in an orderly fashion, I suggest we postpone the preamble and three sections and dispose of the schedules first. Is there agreement on this? Thank you.

We will start. There are no proposed amendments to schedule 1 to the bill. I therefore propose that we bundle sections 1 to 8 of the schedule. Is there agreement? I see agreement.

Shall sections 1 to 8 of schedule 1 carry? All in favour, please raise your hand. All in opposition, please raise your hand. Sections 1 to 8 of schedule 1 are carried.

Schedule 2: There are no proposed amendments to schedule 2 to the bill. Therefore, I propose that we bundle sections 1 to 10 of the schedule. Is there agreement to bundle these sections? Yes. I’m going to put the question.

All in favour of sections 1 to 10 of schedule 2, please raise your hand. All in opposition? Sections 1 to 10 of schedule 2 are carried.

Shall schedule 2 carry? All in favour? All in opposition? Seeing none, schedule 2 is carried.

Schedule 3: There are no proposed amendments to schedule 3 to the bill. Therefore, I propose that we bundle sections 1 to 25 of schedule 3. Is there agreement to bundle the schedules? Okay. I’m going to put the question.

Shall sections 1 to 25 of schedule 1 carry? All in favour, please raise your hand—

Interjection.

The Chair (Mr. Aris Babikian): My apologies. There is a typo. I am going to put the question again.

Shall sections 1 to 25 of schedule 3 carry? All in favour? All in opposition? Seeing none, sections 1 to 25 of schedule 3 are carried.

Shall schedule 3 carry? All in favour? All in opposition? Schedule 3 is carried.

Schedule 4: There are no proposed amendments to schedule 4 to the bill. Therefore, I propose that we bundle sections 1 to 15 of schedule 4. Is there agreement? Thank you.

Shall sections 1 to 15 of schedule 4 carry? All in favour? All in opposition? Sections 1 to 15 of schedule 4 are carried.

Shall schedule 4 carry? All in favour? All in opposition? Seeing none, schedule 4 is carried.

Schedule 5: There are no proposed amendments to schedule 5 to the bill. I therefore propose that we bundle sections 1 to 22 of schedule 5. Is there agreement to bundle these sections? Thank you. I’m going to put the question.

Shall sections 1 to 22 of schedule 5 carry? All in favour? All in opposition?

Interjection.

The Chair (Mr. Aris Babikian): My apologies. Again, there is—just one second.

Shall sections 1 to 22 of schedule 5 carry? All in favour? All in opposition? Carried.

Shall schedule 5 carry? All in favour? All in opposition? Schedule 5 is carried.

Schedule 6: There are no proposed amendments to schedule 6 to the bill. I therefore propose that we bundle sections 1 to 19 of schedule 6. Is there agreement to bundle these sections? Yes.

All in favour? All in opposition? Sections 1 to 19 of schedule 6 are carried.

Shall schedule 6 carry? All in favour? All in opposition? Schedule 6 is carried.

Schedule 7: There are no proposed amendments to schedule 7 to the bill. I therefore propose that we bundle sections 1 to 5 of schedule 7. Is there agreement to bundle these sections? I see agreement. I’m going to put the question.

Shall sections 1 to 5 of schedule 7 carry? All in favour? All in opposition? Sections 1 to 5 of schedule 7 are carried.

Shall schedule 7 carry? All in favour? All in opposition? Schedule 7 is carried.

Schedule 8: There are no proposed amendments to schedule 8 to the bill. I therefore propose that we bundle sections 1 to 59 of schedule 8. Is there agreement to bundle the schedules? I see agreement.

Shall sections 1 to 59 of schedule 8 carry? All in favour? All in opposition? Sections 1 to 59 of schedule 8 are carried.

Shall schedule 8 carry? All in favour? All in opposition? Schedule 8 is carried.

Schedule 9: There are no proposed amendments to schedule 9 to the bill. I therefore propose that we bundle sections 1 to 11 of schedule 9. Is there agreement to bundle the schedules? Yes.

Shall sections 1 to 11 of schedule 9 carry? All in favour? All in opposition? Sections 1 to 11 of schedule 9 are carried.

Shall schedule 9 carry? All in favour? All in opposition? Schedule 9 is carried.

Thank you, members. This wraps up Bill 109’s schedules. We will now return to the preamble.

Shall the preamble carry? All in opposition? The preamble is carried.

Shall section 1 carry? All in favour? All in opposition? Section 1 is carried.

Section 2: All in favour? All in opposition? Section 2 is carried.

Section 3: All in favour? All in opposition? Section 3 is carried.

Shall the title of the bill carry? All in favour? All in opposition? The title of the bill is carried.

Shall Bill 109 carry? All in favour? All in opposition? Bill 109 is carried.

Shall I report the bill to the House? All in favour? All in opposition? Seeing none, I will report the bill.

Thank you, everyone. That concludes clause-by-clause consideration of Bill 109.

Please note that we will reconvene at 1 p.m. for committee business. Are there any questions? We’ll see you all at 1 o’clock.

The committee recessed from 0911 to 1300.

Committee business

The Chair (Mr. Aris Babikian): Good afternoon, dear colleagues. I would like to call this meeting of the Standing Committee on the Interior to order. On the agenda is committee business. Are there any motions? MPP Dowie.

Mr. Andrew Dowie: I move that the committee enter closed session for the purpose of organizing committee business.

The Chair (Mr. Aris Babikian): We have a motion for the committee to enter closed session. Are there any comments? No. All in favour? All in opposition? The motion is carried. We will take a few seconds to set up the room.

The committee continued in closed session at 1301.

STANDING COMMITTEE ON THE INTERIOR

Chair / Président

Mr. Aris Babikian (Scarborough–Agincourt PC)

First Vice-Chair / Premier Vice-Président

Mr. Sol Mamakwa (Kiiwetinoong ND)

Second Vice-Chair / Deuxième Vice-Président

Mr. Jonathan Tsao (Don Valley North / Don Valley-Nord L)

Mr. Aris Babikian (Scarborough–Agincourt PC)

Mr. Robert Bailey (Sarnia–Lambton PC)

Mr. Jeff Beattie (Hamilton East–Stoney Creek / Hamilton-Est–Stoney Creek PC)

Mr. Guy Bourgouin (Mushkegowuk–James Bay / Mushkegowuk–Baie James ND)

Mr. Rudy Cuzzetto (Mississauga–Lakeshore PC)

Mr. Andrew Dowie (Windsor–Tecumseh PC)

Mr. Sol Mamakwa (Kiiwetinoong ND)

Mr. Jonathan Tsao (Don Valley North / Don Valley-Nord L)

MPP Paul Vickers (Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound PC)

Substitutions / Membres remplaçants

Mr. Ted Hsu (Kingston and the Islands / Kingston et les Îles L)

Mr. John Vanthof (Timiskaming–Cochrane ND)

Clerk / Greffier

Mr. Stefan Uguen-Csenge

Staff / Personnel

Ms. Pia Anthony Muttu, research officer,
Research Services

Ms. Simone Bittman, legislative counsel