Ontario Votes and Proceedings, 19 May 2016

What this document is

This is the Legislative Assembly of Ontario’s official minute for Thursday 19 May 2016, in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. It records the disposition of second reading of Bill 202, the Standing Up Against Anti-Semitism in Ontario Act, 2016, together with the names of every member voting on each side S235. The bill itself was sponsored by Tim Hudak and Mike Colle, and had carried first reading on 20 April 2016 S015.

What it establishes

Second reading was lost on a recorded division: 18 ayes and 39 nays S235. The eighteen members voting in favour were Arnott, Bailey, Coe, Colle, Fedeli, Hardeman, Harris, Hudak, Martow, McDonell, McNaughton, Munro, Pettapiece, Smith, Thompson, Walker, Wilson and Yakabuski S235. Thirty-nine members voted against S235.

Because the bill died at second reading, Ontario enacted nothing. This matters for two reasons. It is the reason this site says the province has passed a resolution against BDS but no legislation restricting boycott activity, and it sits directly beside Motion 36, carried eighteen months later, which was a statement of opinion rather than a law. The conventional way to write the result is ayes first: eighteen in favour to thirty-nine against. Writing it as “39–18” invites a reader to think the larger number supported the bill.

Key passages

The disposition reads “Lost on the following division” S235. The Assembly’s own bill page records the same outcome as “Lost on recorded division” at second reading S015.

How it is used on this site

The defeat is cited in the key facts table and on the timeline, and it supports the statement on Is BDS legal in Canada? that no Ontario statute restricts boycott advocacy.

Provenance and access

Both documents are published by the Legislative Assembly at ola.org, which refuses automated requests. The bill page has an Internet Archive snapshot, recorded above in the source entry for that page. No archived copy of the Votes and Proceedings for 19 May 2016, the record that carries the division, was located. The debate is in the Hansard transcript for the same sitting day.

Page history

2026-09-21: First draft.