Big score for proposed Ontario law pushing for safer soccer goalposts

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a new Village Media website devoted to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.

A bill to improve the safety of portable soccer goalposts after a 15-year-old was tragically killed by one that fell on him cleared a key checkpoint to its passage this week.

Bill 99, the Garrett's Legacy Act, passed through its committee study on Thursday. It'll be returned to the house as a whole for third reading — MPPs' last stage of debate and voting on a bill — as early as in the fall.

The proposed law is titled after Garrett Mills, a 15-year-old boy who was killed on May 12, 2017 in Napanee, Ont. by a soccer goalpost in a park that tipped over and fell on his head when he was doing chin-ups on it, according to reporting from the time. David Mills, Garrett's father, has been a steadfast advocate for safer movable soccer goalposts since his son's death.

Bill 99 is the fourth iteration of the proposed law that's been introduced since Garrett Mills' death. None of the three previous versions made it as close to passing as the latest attempt now has.

Bill 99 would enshrine in law new safety requirements for movable soccer goalposts, including requiring that they be securely anchored to the ground whenever they're available to be used. Many additional requirements for these portable goalposts will be up to the minister of tourism, culture and sport to set after the law is passed.

Bill 99 would also allow Ontario's sport minister to appoint inspectors to ensure the law is being followed and create new fines for individuals who are responsible for the safety requirements not being followed.

Progressive Conservative MPP Ric Bresee introduced Bill 99 in April. He represents Hastings—Lennox and Addington, a mostly rural riding in eastern Ontario that encapsulates Napanee. He's a rookie MPP. Before being elected to Queen's Park last year, Bresee served for more than two decades on the council of Loyalist Township, which neighbours the town of Greater Napanee, from 2018 to 2022.

Bill 99 is the first legislation that Bresee has spearheaded in his time at Queen's Park.

Speaking to The Trillium just after his bill was ordered on May 9 to be studied at the committee stage, the PC MPP said he's known David Mills since he got in touch with Bresee a few months after Garrett's death when Bresee lost his daughter to leukemia.

"He reached out to me to provide me with in some ways some counselling, and in some ways support, as I went through the grieving process of my own for my daughter. Through that, he relayed some of his own experiences with his son," Bresee said.

"The bottom line is that no parent should ever have to bury a child. It is one of the toughest things any human being can do."

It was while thinking about what to do with his private member's slot — the rotating opportunity MPPs outside of cabinet have to propose legislation — that Bresee said taking another shot at passing the Garrett's Legacy Act "very clearly came to the forefront."

"So I reached out to Dave and Gwen (Garrett's mother) and spoke with them about some of the background, more detail than I had previously, which helped to refresh my memory," the PC MPP said.

Having also felt support for the bill from his colleagues in the government caucus and the opposition parties at Queen's Park, Bresee decided to reintroduce the act.

All parties' MPPs have so far supported Bill 99 since it was tabled on April 17. MPPs' last sitting day in the chamber before the summer break was June 8. They're due to return to regular sittings on Sept. 25.

The social policy committee's meeting on Bill 99 on Thursday was one of eight meetings scheduled during this past week to study a collection of private members' bills that were forwarded to the committee stage before the summer break.

MPPs spent much of the about 2.5 hours of meetings on Thursday on Bill 99 asking questions of Bresee, David Mills, and Jacqueline Palm, who attended to testify on the worth of Bill 99. Palm's daughter Jaime Palm was killed in another tragic incident involving soccer goalposts; she died in July 2014 after becoming pinned under a tipped over goalpost on a field in Bradford, Ont. 

All MPPs, which included PCs and New Democrats, at Thursday's social policy committee meeting voted in favour of returning Bill 99 for its third reading debate, which will end with a final vote to pass it. The government has not yet decided when, exactly, the Garrett's Legacy Act will start its final debate in the chamber. The government tends to shape its legislative plans for the fall over the summer.

When he spoke to The Trillium in May, Bresee said he hoped the progress so far with the latest iteration of the Garrett's Legacy Act can serve as an example of the importance of maintaining one's advocacy.

"Continuing to voice your concerns — whoever you are and from whatever position — I've always maintained is incredibly important," the PC MPP said. "It's our job as the elected officials to listen to those voices, certainly. And yes, sometimes it takes a long time to get these things through. There is a cliché called 'the speed of government,' and sometimes it takes a long time. But eventually, you can get things done and that's an important lesson with this."