Ontario extends demerit points and offence notices to work-related vehicles

Ontario has extended its demerit point system and its certificate-of-offence rules beyond emergency vehicles and tow trucks to a newly defined class of “work-related vehicle”, under three regulations published together in The Ontario Gazette of 31 October 2026. O. Reg. 329/26, O. Reg. 330/26 and O. Reg. 331/26 were made on 16 July 2026 and filed on 15 October 2026, and each amends a different consolidated regulation already on the province’s books. The amendments are set out in Part III (Regulations) of the Legislation Act, 2006.

The package is split by statute. Two of the regulations sit under the Highway Traffic Act: one touches the demerit point table, the other supplies the definition that makes the new class operative. The third sits under the Provincial Offences Act and adjusts the short-form wording used when an offence is prosecuted by certificate of offence. Read together, they move the same boundary in three places at once — the point system, the definitions, and the ticket.

A definition for work-related vehicles

O. Reg. 330/26 amends Regulation 596 of the Revised Regulations of Ontario, 1990 (General), adding a new section 12 under the heading “Work-related vehicles”. For the purposes of paragraph 3 of subsection 159 (2) of the Act, a “work-related vehicle” means a motor vehicle of a class commonly used for:

• roadside assistance services;
• waste collection;
• highway maintenance;
• or a vehicle used by a public utility.

The definition is drafted by class of vehicle rather than by named employer, so it reaches any driver operating a unit of that kind, not only the companies that own the fleet.

Three regulations, three rulebooks

• O. Reg. 329/26, under the Highway Traffic Act, amends O. Reg. 339/94 (Demerit Point System). Items 36.2 and 36.3 of the Table to that regulation strike out “vehicle or tow truck” in Column 3 and substitute “vehicle, tow truck or work-related vehicle”; item 36.4 strikes out the cross-reference “159 (4)” in Column 1 and substitutes “159 (6)”.
• O. Reg. 330/26, also under the Highway Traffic Act, amends Regulation 596 of the Revised Regulations of Ontario, 1990 (General) by adding the definition quoted above.
• O. Reg. 331/26, under the Provincial Offences Act, amends Regulation 950 of the Revised Regulations of Ontario, 1990 (Proceedings Commenced by Certificate of Offence). In Schedule 43, items 468 and 468.1 strike out “emergency vehicle or tow truck” in Column 2 and substitute “specified vehicle”, and item 468.2 strikes out “159 (4)” in Column 3 and substitutes “159 (6)”.

Each regulation was published on e-Laws on 15 October 2026, the same day it was filed, and appeared in print in the gazette two weeks later.

A commencement tied to a 2024 statute

All three carry an identical commencement clause. They come into force on the later of two days: the day section 1 of Schedule 2 to the Working for Workers Six Act, 2024 comes into force, and the day the regulation itself was filed. Filing therefore sets a floor — 15 October 2026 — but the operative text cannot apply until the 2024 provision is also in force. In practical terms, the demerit table, the definition and the offence wording will switch on together, not in stages.

The gazette gives no demerit values, fine amounts or effective date beyond that formula; operators will have to read the three amended regulations as consolidated on e-Laws to see the resulting numbers.

What it means for fleets

For anyone running a fleet of tow trucks, road-maintenance units, collection vehicles or utility trucks, the compliance question has shifted from what the vehicle does at the roadside to what class of vehicle it is. A driver whose unit falls within the new definition now sits in the same column of the demerit table as an emergency vehicle or a tow truck, and the corresponding item in Schedule 43 of the offence regulation refers to a “specified vehicle” rather than naming emergency vehicles and tow trucks. Because the definition is set by regulation rather than in the Act, it can also be amended again without a legislative change — which makes the wording of section 12 of Regulation 596 the text to watch.

Source: The Ontario Gazette, Vol. 159, No. 44, 31 October 2026, Part III (Regulations), pp. 3117–3119 (official references: O. Reg. 329/26, O. Reg. 330/26, O. Reg. 331/26).