Ontario municipalities will have an optional set of fines for enforcing fire safety once the provincial government finalizes the framework for administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) tied to the Fire Protection and Prevention Act (FPPA). This has already been authorized through 2024 amendments to the Act, but not yet been proclaimed into law.
The public is now invited to submit comments on the Ministry of the Solicitor General’s proposed parameters, including: offences to which AMPs may apply; officials authorized to impose AMPs; the fee schedule; and opportunities to dispute penalties. A consultation paper posted on Ontario’s regulatory registry indicates AMPs are intended as a measure to address violations of Fire Code provisions related to record-keeping or other details that pose a low risk to life-safety and do not require specialized or technical knowledge to assess.
“Once this framework is in place, municipalities would have the option to use AMPs as a progressive enforcement tool that could be imposed upon anyone, including tenants, owners and corporations, who contravenes the FPPA and its regulations. AMPs may be used alone or in conjunction with other enforcement tools under the FPPA,” the preamble to the consultation paper states.
Meanwhile, the FPPA itself states: “An administrative penalty may be imposed alone or in conjunction with any other regulatory measure provided by this or any other Act, and may be imposed in conjunction with a fine imposed for the same infraction.”
Designated assistants to the Fire Marshall (AFM), who currently issue tickets under the Provincial Offences Act (POA) for offences related to the FPPA, are tapped as logical officials to issue AMPs. These technical experts are typically already embedded within municipal fire departments or are staff within the Office of the Fire Marshall serving areas without a municipal fire department.
Similarly, the consultation paper suggests AMPs for a first offence would not exceed the fines set out in the POA, which range from $195 to $295, but a subsequent contravention within a three-year period would be subject to higher penalties. Under the yet-to-be-proclaimed enabling legislation, those would top out at $10,000 for an individual and $100,000 for corporations and organizations. However, the government will prescribe precise fine amounts in regulation, which will be consistent province-wide, as AMPs comes into force.
Recipients of AMP orders will have a 30-day period to submit a request for a review, and a 30-day period to pay once an order has been finalized. Proceeds from AMPs are to be directed to the administering municipalities or the Ontario government’s consolidated revenue fund in unorganized areas. It’s proposed that outstanding payments from property owners may be collected through either municipal property tax or provincial land tax.
The public can submit comments on the proposed framework until July 28, 2025.
