It has become obvious that the Ford government has moved from trying
to advance their agenda to trying to see what they can get away with.
Their recent attempt to use the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian
constitution to impose a contract on education workers is a glaring
example of them testing the waters to see what will happen. Organized
labour, including unions that endorsed the Conservative party during
the election, pushed back, because the right to organize and withhold
services to negotiate a fair contract is a basic right under our
constitution. A week after the law was passed, strongly opposed by the
NDP’s official Opposition, the Ford government rescinded it, like it never
happened.
The problem is that this is not the only example of the Ford
government’s overreach. Despite their own housing taskforce stating
that access to land was not the bottleneck in the current housing crisis,
the Ford government has moved legislation through the house to allow
the development of protected land in the Greenbelt. Over 7000 acres of
Greenbelt is now going to be lost on top of the 320 acres of farmland we
lose every day in Ontario. This is land that will never be able to grow
food again. The Ford government’s answer to concerns arising from this
is that housing trumps all. Housing is a massive issue, but it can’t be
looked at in isolation. People need to have shelter, but they also need to
When I brought this up in the legislature, neither the Premier, the Minister
of Municipal Affairs or even the Minister of Agriculture would even acknowledge
that farmland loss was an issue. Her silence speaks volumes.
There is now a bill in the house that attacks our basic system of
democracy. In our system, whether it is a club, a board, a municipal
council, or the legislature, the majority wins at fifty percent plus one. Not
under Bill 39. Part of this bill decrees that the mayors of Toronto and
Ottawa can pass bylaws with the support of 30% of council. This change
could be implemented across the province. The Ford government claims
that these steps are needed to fix our housing shortage. Ontario has
faced many challenges over its history, but no government has ever tried
to circumvent our democratic traditions to try to get their way. This
crosses a line very similar to the use of the notwithstanding clause. It is
not about housing; it is about seeing what they can get away with. I
asked the Minister of Economic Development, Vic Fedeli, the former
mayor of North Bay whether he agreed with this concept. His
unwillingness to give an answer also speaks volumes.
We need to push back on this attempted abuse of power. Regardless of
your political views, this is wrong, and the government knows it.
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