Audience: Grade 5 Social Studies
Length of time:  Approximately 60 minutes

Overview:
An introduction to the legislative process in Ontario. Students will complete an individual activity creating their own bill, with a focus on developing an idea and understanding the various perspectives and implications of a provincial law.   

Objective:
Students will learn how their idea can be turned into a law by creating their own bill about a provincial issue that is particularly important to them. They will learn to create arguments for and against the idea and discuss how it affects them and the people of Ontario.

Learning Outcomes:
Students will:
• Develop presentation and critical thinking skills.
• Understand how provincial laws are made in Ontario.
• Understand how provincial laws affect their lives.

Curriculum Links:
Inquiry: Differing Perspectives on Social and Environmental Issues
• Formulate questions to guide investigations into social and/or environmental issues in Canada from various perspectives, including the perspective of the level (or levels) of government responsible for addressing the issues (B2.1)
• Communicate the results of their inquiries, using appropriate vocabulary (B2.6)

Understanding Context: Roles and Responsibilities of Government and Citizens
• Describe the jurisdiction of different levels of government in Canada (B3.2)
• Describe shared responsibility of various levels of government for providing some services and for dealing with selected social and environmental issues (B3.3)
• Describe key actions taken by different levels of government to solve significant national, provincial/territorial, and/or local issues (B3.5)

Application: Governments and Citizens Working Together
• Create a plan of action to address a social issue of local, provincial/territorial, and/or national significance (B1.2)
• Explain why different groups may have different perspectives on specific social and environmental issues (B3.6)

Background Information:

The Three Levels of Government
What is a bill?
How does a bill become law in Ontario?
How a bill becomes a law flow chart
Preamble of Bill 100
Bill 100

Create a provincial bill

Introductory Discussion (10 minutes)

What are some of the responsibilities of the provincial government? Education, health care, transportation, etc.

What is a bill?
A bill is an idea that may eventually become a law. All provincial bills start as ideas and are introduced by MPPs in the Legislative Assembly. Each bill has a preamble, explaining the bill’s purpose.
 
What is a law?
A legal rule that is enforced and followed.

Activity: Create a provincial bill (30 minutes)
As a class, review Bill 100 and its preamble (summary).

Working individually or in groups of 3, students will use the Bill Template Worksheet to create their own bill.  Students will start by choosing a provincial issue that they would like to make into a law or an Ontario law they would like to change and complete the worksheet. As they complete the worksheet they must develop their idea and think about the outcome and affects of their bill. For example, students may wish to introduce a bill about education that makes uniforms mandatory in all Ontario schools. 

Class presentation (5 minutes per presentation)
Once the students have completed their bill templates, they will present to the class.  Students will highlight how the proposed bill would positively or negatively affect Ontarians. 
For example, how would making uniforms mandatory affect students?
• Would it affect the way families spend money?
• Would any local stores or businesses be affected?
• Would students get better grades?

Additional Activities

• As an alternative to individual work, the class as whole can choose an Ontario law that they would like to create or change and have a group discussion on how it would benefit the people of Ontario.  This bill can be used for a classroom debate.
• Play "How a Bill Becomes a Law"