Ontario is the first province in Canada to provide new provincial laws, including existing legislation that has been amended online within two business days of enactment to the public government officials, say.
“With this tool, Ontario leads the nation in offering educators, students, the legal community and members of the public access to the information they need, when they need it, free of charge,” Consumer and Business Services Minister Tim Hudak says.
The new site labeled e-Laws ( www.elaws.gov.on.ca ) will allow users to access provincial government laws immediately, instead of the standard 12 to 18-month publishing cycle.
“By simply entering in key words or phrases in plain language, the smart technology search engine will retrieve the relevant up-to-date laws,” Attorney General Norm Sterling says.
The site has been available to students and professors in one of the law libraries in Canada during the first phase. Now with full implementation the Director of Libraries at the Law Society of Upper Canada, Janine Miller says, “Not only can researchers retrieve acts, private acts and regulations from one source, but they can also review statutes in an easy-to-use annual format.”
