Imagine the town of Tobermory was declared a special economic zone under the Ford government’s proposed Bill 5. Let’s say the private luxury spa that took over Ontario Place wanted to build a second spa at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula. Or, perhaps a developer wanted to expropriate a vast tract of the richly diverse and ecologically important escarpment to build a community of mini mansions.
Under Bill 5, any provincial or municipal law or statute could be suspended. That means any labourer building these possible developments might not be protected by labour laws concerning their health, safety or rate of pay. That means any municipal laws concerning planning, zoning and the impact on neighbours could be ignored. That means any plants or wildlife that could be adversely affected by the development could be disregarded. That means developers could overlook any regulations related to water or air quality. That means any concern about climate change would be nonexistent.
While none of these imaginary developments is currently on the table, Bill 5 can create special economic zones anywhere in Ontario with no limits, rationale or guardrails. For more information about the details of Bill 5, check out this webinar by Environmental Defence at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lj7ZqlPIGM&t=94s.
When Premier Doug Ford vowed to protect Ontario from US President Donald Trump’s threats to punish Canadians with tariffs until we caved to the pressure to become the 51st state, he forgot to tell us he would suspend the rule of law to do so. He forgot to tell us that he would remove all protections for Ontario’s environment and workers in the same way Trump is currently doing in the US.
Bill 5 will not end the trade war, protect agricultural or environmentally-sensitive land, create affordable housing, reduce homelessness or improve our local communities. It will create a lawless chaos for anywhere unfortunate enough to be declared a special economic zone.
Doug Ford might have wrapped himself in the Canadian flag to get re-elected but by pushing Bill 5, the government is threatening its own people. Please call and email Conservative MPP Paul Vicker’s office: paul.vickers@pc.ola.org , 519-371-2421, to voice your concerns about this non-democratic overreaching bill. Tell him to stop Bill 5 from becoming law in Ontario.
Susan Hundertmark, Tony McQuail, Christine Roberts, Wilhemina Laurie, Jim Hollingworth, Rebecca Garrett, Janice McKean and Sharon Collingwood, members of Growing Rural Environmental Action Network (GREAN) of Huron, Bruce and Perth Counties
