Lien Amendment Act reaches royal assent

TORONTO — Bill 142, the Construction Lien Amendment Act 2017, has reached royal assent, meaning Ontario has a new Construction Act.

The bill makes numerous amendments to the Construction Lien Act in response to the report titled Striking the Balance: Expert Review of Ontario’s Construction Lien Act, authored by construction lawyers Bruce Reynolds and Sharon Vogel and delivered on April 30, 2016.

The new Construction Act will include a prompt payment regime, modernization of construction lien and holdback rules and the introduction of an adjudication system.

Reynolds commented at the recent Construct Canada conference in Toronto that once Bill 142 was passed, the next step for legislators would be to create regulations under the new law, a process that could begin in the new year.

He said the modernization component of the legislation would come into force six months after the cabinet issues an order in council and the prompt payment and adjudication sections would come into force a year after the order in council.

Bill 142 was introduced in May. The second reading approval came in October and third reading approval was received earlier this month.