The Ontario Provincial Offences Act And Its Role In Criminal Prosecution And Enforcement

Overview of the Ontario Provincial Offences Act

The Provincial Offences Act was introduced in 1979. It oversees a large portion of the procedure for prosecuting and enforcing federal and provincial administrative violations and local by-laws. The Law Commission of Canada projected in 1974 that there were 20,000 administrative crimes in each jurisdiction, plus another 20,000 federal crimes, and these figures did not involve municipal by-law violations. And scholars oversee that over the last three years, more than 2 million charges had been made in Ontario under crime-creating legislation to which the Provincial Offences Act 1990 applies. These charges are levied in various sectors, including traffic, restricted drug management, the environment, and occupational health and safety (Seguin, 2019).

This paper mainly discusses how the Provincial Offences Act 1990 is utilized to implement Ontario Statutes and Regulations. While discussing the same, it also sheds light on the overview of the Liquor Licence and Control Act 2019, describing how the Provincial Offences Act 1990 leads law enforcement with detention, inquiry, and seizure power.

Several authors have observed that the Provincial Offences Act 1990 is important in implementing the Ontario Statutes and Regulations. Before implementing the Provincial Offences Act 1990, the process for implementing and sentencing regulatory crimes in Ontario was outlined in the Summary Convictions Act 1985. It was a brief Act containing 23 provisions that followed the provisions of the Criminal Code for prosecuting summary conviction crimes. While these processes were "minimally less rigorous than the indictable crime processes of Criminal Code, they were completely out of step with the small, regulatory nature of maximum provincial crimes." According to an Ontario Law Reform Commission study from 1973, the unequal procedure that controlled some provincial crimes negatively influenced the administration of justice. The entire system of governance of provincial crimes is failing, not just in the courtroom but also in the serving of summonses, implementation of warrants, and the massive amount of associated paperwork. Parking tickets are enforced using law enforcement resources, whereas subpoenas in major criminal cases are served by regular mail. Some cops do not bother showing up as eyewitnesses. Aside from the grounds, the defendants are not guilty. The latter outcome may be acceptable if another worthwhile goal is accomplished, but if the conviction is solely the product of administrative incompetence, it inspires disregard for the system (Schafler & Melissa, 2018).

The suggested Provincial Offences Act 1990 goes right to the heart of the current procedural difficulty, which stems from the reality that local crimes are being tried under a rule of process based on the Criminal Code of Canada. Although the accepted method is the less rigorous and official of the two systems created in the Criminal Code, it is nonetheless rooted in generations of preconceptions about offences and the people who commit them. Neither these ideas nor the strict legalities they have produced are fit for the vast majority of local crimes, which are designed to regulate actions that are not only lawful but also beneficial to the community. There was a specific objective to develop a completely new "custom-built administrative framework" that would supersede and be different from the summary conviction method of the Criminal Code. This novel paradigm was made evident by the objective of the Provincial Offences Act 1990, as stated in the provision of section 2(1) of the Act. In simple words, it can be stated that the goal of this Act is to substitute the summary conviction process for the punishment of local crimes, including the measures established by reference to the Criminal Code (Canada), with one that respects the differences between local and criminal crimes (Baker, 2016).

Comparing the Provincial Offences Act to the Criminal Code

Legislators in our nation have made praiseworthy initiatives to ensure public order and tranquillity among the community's citizens. The Provincial Offences Act 1990 principally established the legal rules related to public order and tranquillity. This Act establishes the legal framework for maintaining public order and tranquillity and the appropriate authority and law enforcement's responsibilities, authorities, and tasks. Provincial law and regulations and local by-laws can be used to generate Provincial Offences Act 1990. This Act determines how certain crimes are punished. Unless another Act stipulates a specific term, a punishment for a provincial crime must be initiated within one year after the commission of the crime. Until another Act is delivered differently, the maximum punishment for a provincial crime is a fine of $5,000.

Multiple provincial legislation governs the behaviour of persons and businesses. When those standards are violated, the controlling legislation usually imposes a corresponding crime to encourage conformity with the statutory norm. The Liquor Licence and Control Act, the Cannabis Control Act, the Trespass to Property Act, and the Residential Tenancies Act are all important areas of regulatory legislation in Ontario. Among these regulatory legislations, the Liquor Licence and Control Act 2019 (LLCA) and its rules go into effect nowadays, allowing the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) to update the way it governs the sale, distribution, and transport of liquor while also laying the framework for a more balanced approach to supervision. Recipients of AGCO licences, permits, and authorizations are not required to take any action in iAGCO before their designated renewal date. All current licences, permissions, approvals, and recommendations will be carried over to the new LLCA regime ("Information Bulletin: Liquor Licence & Control Act, 2019 Framework Now in Effect | Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario", 2022).

The issue of arrest poses sensitive but highly practical issues. It entails striking a compromise between efficient policing and personal freedom. There is presently only a very limited power of arrest and detention and search and seizure for provincial offences; in the rare circumstances where the authority does persist, it is expressly stated in the Act that creates the wrongdoings. The Liquor License and Control Act of 2019 include its specific arrest authority. Provincial offence officials will not have an arrest or search and seizure authority, which is kept only for law enforcement officers. The Summary Convictions Act 1985 provides no arrest authority for local by-laws and no universal arrest and detention authority. Arrest powers are uncommon. They have been requested and approved on a very limited basis. The law enforcement community has fought fiercely for a restricted, universal power of arrest, arguing that its absenteeism can lead to serious enforcement issues (Gélinas & Brosseau, 2015).

Conclusion

Thus, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that the Provincial Offences Act 1990 has great importance in implementing the Ontario Statutes and Regulations. The Summary Convictions Act 1985 provides no arrest authority for local by-laws and no universal arrest and detention authority. Arrest powers are uncommon. They have been requested and approved on a very limited basis. The law enforcement community has fought fiercely for a restricted, universal power of arrest, arguing that its absenteeism can lead to serious enforcement issues. The Provincial Offenses Act of 1990 was "created to establish an efficient and fair mechanism for trial the high number of cases processed by the provincial crimes court." It was designed to develop a quick, effective, and easy manner of dealing with minor crimes. These facts indicate that the Provincial Offences Act 1990 framework has grown too sophisticated and technical to settle minor crimes. It may be overly general for the growing number of significant provincial offences.

References

Baker, D. (2016). The Provincial Power to (Not) Prosecutes Criminal Code Offences. Ottawa L. Rev., 48, 417.

Gélinas, F., & Brosseau, J. (2015). Judicial Justices of the Peace and Judicial Independence in Canada. Rev. Const. Stud., 20, 213.

Information Bulletin: Liquor Licence & Control Act, 2019. Framework Now in Effect | Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. (2022). Retrieved 14 April 2022, from https://www.agco.ca/bulletin/2021/information-bulletin-liquor-licence-control-act-2019-framework-now-effect#:~:text=Today%2C%20the%20Liquor%20Licence%20and,more%20flexible%20approach%20to%20regulation.

Schafler, M., & Melissa, S. (2018). Litigation and enforcement in Canada: overview. URL: https://content. next. westlaw. com/Document/I203079491cb611e38578f7ccc38dcbee/View/FullText. htm l.

Seguin, D. P. F. (2019). Deconstructing Decriminalization: A Genealogy of the Provincial Offences Administration, the Modern Fine, and Penalization in Ontario (Doctoral dissertation, Carleton University).

The Liquor Licence and Control Act 2019

The Provincial Offences Act 1990

The Summary Convictions Act 1985