Bill 9 is now law
Bill 9 is now law. It received Royal Assent on June 2, 2026.
But “law” here has a catch: the bill passed, yet most of its actual rules don’t take effect until the province formally proclaims them and writes the supporting regulations. The province plans to have those done before the October 2026 municipal elections.
What it essentially does:
- The province can now fire a municipal councillor. For serious code-of-conduct violations, a councillor can be removed from office and barred from running again. That power did not exist before.
- It takes the decision away from council. Councillors no longer judge their own colleagues. A complaint goes to the local integrity commissioner, up to the provincial Integrity Commissioner, and a judge makes the final call.
- Every municipality gets the same code of conduct. Pickering and Durham can no longer write their own — they use one province-wide code.
