Understanding the legislative process is important for several types of legal research tasks, including:
This page details types of bills, the legislative process, and how to find commencement information for a bill to determine if it is in force.
There are two main types of bills: public and private.
In general, a public bill is concerned with matters of public policy, while a private bill relates to matters of a particular interest to a person or a corporation.
Public bills can be government bills, which are submitted by a minister and reflect government public policy, or private member's bills, which are submitted by an MP (or MPP) who is not a minister and typically reflect individual or constituent priorities.
Passage of government bills is given priority during a legislative session. In contrast, private members' bills rarely get beyond first reading because they do not reflect government priorities.
►See Researching Bills for more information on how to retrieve a bill.
All bills are assigned a bill number when they receive First Reading (see How a Bill Becomes a Law). The bill number typically reflects the type of bill.
Open the following dropdowns to learn about the numbering system for federal and Ontario bills.
Federally, a bill can be introduced in either chamber: the House of Commons or the Senate. The following description reflects the legislative process for a bill that originates in the House of Commons.
If the bill originates in the Senate, the same process occurs with the bill passing through three readings in the Senate and then three in the House of Commons.
What about the provincial legislative process?
The main difference is that provinces only have one chamber (e.g. Ontario's Legislative Assembly) while federal bills must pass through two (the House of Commons and the Senate). Otherwise, the provincial process is similar to the federal one, with bills undergoing three readings (and possibly committee study) and receiving Royal Assent from the Crown's representative. For more information on a particular province or territory, consult the government's website.
Even when a bill has received Royal Assent, it may not have the force of the law. The concluding section of a bill normally deals with its commencement or coming into force.
An act may come into force all at once or provisions may be brought into force in different ways and at different times. All or part of the statute may be brought into force by the following methods or a combination thereof:
If the text of an act is silent regarding commencement, then the act comes into force on the date of Royal Assent for both Ontario and federal statutes. See Interpretation Act, RSC 1985, c I-21, s 5(2); Legislation Act, 2006, SO 2006, c 21, Sched F, s 8(1). Other jurisdictions may differ.
To determine the date an act (or section of an act) comes into force, first locate the commencement information. This can be found in both the bill and the source law version of the act (see How Laws are Published).
Federally, the Table of Public Statutes from the Department of Justice provides coming into force information for each section of a statute and its subsequent amendments.
If the commencement information states that the act comes into force by proclamation, you will have to look up proclamations in the relevant jurisdiction:
Federally, the Statutes Repeal Act, SC 2008, c 20 provides that any act or part of an act that has not been declared in force within 10 years of receiving Royal Assent will be repealed unless either House adopts a resolution that it not be repealed.
A similar provision exists in Ontario under the Legislation Act, 2006, SO 2006, c 21.
For more detail about the legislative process, consult the following resources.