The Ontario Government has proposed legislation to create “special economic zones” in order to speed up large scale projects such as the Ring of Fire, and a proposed tunnel under highway 401 in order to reduce traffic.
The Bill is called Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act (Bill 5 ) detailed of which can be found here.
As an aside, I love it how governments name their bills. Be forewarned. The name of bills often does the exact opposite of it’s name. It’s a PR play in an attempt at misdirection (kinda like how a magician pulls off a magic trick). It gets the public to look one way; or to think about the legislation in one way; in order to misdirect the public from seeing all of the bad stuff happening which is actually going to happen in a different direction. It’s a way for the government to create a narrative in a way which directs people away from the ugly truth of what’s actually going to take place. The Bill, called “Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act”, could also be aptly named the “Stripping All of Your Rights so We Can Dig Out Minerals and Build Stuff Really Really Quickly Act“.
If passed, the new law would allow the Ontario government to disregard any provincial laws currently in place (such as provincial environment, labour or insurance act rules) in order to get the project done as quickly as possible, without any red tape. The bill cuts all of the checks and balances in place to protect the public and to protect the environment. It’s being sold to the public as a way to kick start the economy over the threat of Donald Trump and tariffs being imposed by the United States on Canada and Ontario.
It might sound like a good idea, until you pause and think about the ramifications of the proposed bill to plow through all other bills.
For starters, the bill seems completely undemocratic, and borderline totalitarian. The piece of legislation allows the government to do whatever it wants; ignoring legislation what has existed for many years. The rules and laws won’t apply to them once this piece of legislation has passed, and is used. Even if it’s challenged in the Courts as a violation of a Charter Right, the government can enact the Notwithstanding Clause in order to get their way. The Ford Government has used the Notwithstanding Clause before; meaning that they won’t be afraid to use it again. It gives the government total and complete control. That’s what happens when a majority government has been elected. It’s their “mandate“. But, if this piece of legislation were put to a vote, I doubt that the majority on Ontarians would stand behind the idea of giving such power to the government.
Why is this alarming as a personal injury lawyer?
Just think about all of the the legislation that can be usurped and how it will impact the rights of everyday people:
Workplace Safety? That’s legislated by the Ontario Health and Safety Act along with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act
How about the rights of workers and their pay? That’s governed by the Employment Standards Act in Ontario
How about the environment and any potential damage to the water, air, land etc? That’s governed by the Environmental Protection Act and Ontario’s Endangered Species Act which is being replaced by the Species Conservation Act, which is a watered down Endangered Species Act.
How about insurance? Personal injury claims, fire loss claims, water loss claims? All of that is governed under Ontario’s Insurance Act and the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule. Let’s say for instance that somebody is hurt or injured in an accident within an area which has been identified as one of the “Special Economic Zones” and Bill 5 is applied which states that you cannot sue, or get compensation for an accident in one of these zones. The rights of the innocent accident victim have been completely stripped away. Does that seem “fair“? The idea of fairness does not exist with these rules. The fact that the rights of people can be easily stripped away so discretely and so quickly is a scary prospect. It’s hardly democratic and it’s certainly not what voters expected or bargained for when they elected this government. This story is flying under the radar, and needs more public attention and debate. But what will debate at Queen’s Park hope to accomplish? What would that achieve when the governing party holds a majority and can do whatever they want given that they will get the votes to pass whatever piece of legislation they wish? Great points can be made by anyone in the opposition at debate, but if the ruling majority chooses to ignore those points, they are within their power and rights to do as they wish. That’s what happens when you have a majority government.
I have not gone in to the rights of Indigenous people and their lands which will be impacted by Bill 5. That’s a sensitive area and an area of law which I have little expertise with; and is rather complex as well. But, you can be sure that people will be upset if/when their rights are unilaterally set aside by this piece of legislation. I can assure you. If this sort of proposal was an electoral promise, the Ford Government would not have captured a majority, let alone been elected to power in the first place. There would have been heavy criticism. This is exactly why party platforms and budgets are broad, and are now released later and later in campaign cycles. If the parties are too specific with their promises, they get criticized. If they release their platforms and promises too early, that provides the opposition too much time to critique those proposals. I highly doubt if any candidate for office ran on a platform of introducing legislation which would curb the rights of its citizens, and ignored all previous laws, checks and balances in place, that it would get elected. But hey; it can all be framed as their elected mandate following a majority win.