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Critics raises concerns about provisions in Ontario’s Bill 10 that would make landlords responsible for drug activity in their units

The bill, which received royal assent but has not yet been proclaimed into force, makes it a provincial offence for landlords to “knowingly permit” drug production or trafficking on their property. A first offence could cost up to $250,000, and jail time would also be possible. But how could a landlord possibly know what is going on inside a privately rented unit?

Published Jul 30, 2025 at 5:16pm

Barbara Patrocinio
By
Barbara Patrocinio
Critics raises concerns about provisions in Ontario’s Bill 10 that would make landlords responsible for drug activity in their units

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Solicitor General Michael Kerzner, attend an availability in Mississauga, Ont., on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

A little-known section of Ontario’s new public safety legislation is setting off alarm bells for housing providers and legal experts, who say it could expose landlords, including non-profits, to major fines or even jail time if drugs are produced or trafficked in the units they rent out.

The implications of the Measures Respecting Premises with Illegal Drug Activity Act, a section of Schedule 8 of the newly passed Bill 10, has been a hard push-back from supportive housing providers and landlords.

As it is written: "The Schedule enacts the Measures Respecting Premises with Illegal Drug Activity Act, 2025, which prohibits a person from knowingly permitting a premises of which the person is a landlord to be used in relation to offences under Acts of Parliament that relate to the production or trafficking of a controlled substance or precursor, or of cannabis."

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