The Ford government has rushed through another Omnibus Bill.
Much public debate after the bill was introduced was around the whole issue of tearing up bike lanes. An important issue for sure but just a small piece of the bill.
This one (Bill 212) is popularly known as Reducing Gridlock, Saving you Time Act. More specifically it is an “Act to enact two Acts and amend various Acts with respect to highways, broadband-related expropriation and other transportation-related matters.”
Readers will know that an omnibus bill is a proposed law that covers a number of diverse or unrelated topics. Such bills are single documents. They are intended to pass in a single vote by a legislature thus avoiding scrutiny, limiting debate and providing little opportunity for public input.
These bills are becoming more popular it seems.
But Doug Ford has taken the Omnibus Bill to a new level. In Bill 212, not only has he crammed many unrelated items into one piece of legislation, he has brought in exemptions that essentially cancel out legislation that was passed democratically by previous governments.
But hold on; first a little more background on what Bill 212 is about.
Background
Here is the Ford government’s flimsy rationale for the legislation.
The province is growing so we need to build “priority highways.” We need to build them “faster in order to get people and goods out of gridlock.” By doing this we “save drivers and businesses time and money.”
That’s the government argument. In reality, congestion won’t be reduced in the Greater Toronto Area. But municipal by-laws will be countermanded, the Greenbelt will be threatened, vital farmland and endangered species will be put in jeopardy and significant natural areas like the Holland Marsh will be destroyed.
Bill 212 has five schedules:
- Building Broadband Faster
- Building Highways Faster
- Highway #413 Act
- Highway Traffic Act
- Towing Storage Safety Act
We are going to concentrate on Building Highways Faster, the Highway #413 Act and
the Highway Traffic Act.
Building Highways Faster (Schedule 2)
The purpose of this Act as stated is “to expedite the construction of priority highway projects by streamlining and supplementing existing processes in order to alleviate delays to the timely completion of such highway projects.”
However, the Act, through the creation of the Bradford bypass, will:
- Eliminate prime agricultural land.
- Remove landowner rights from expropriation timelines.
- Exonerate the minister from releasing information about priority highways to the public.
- Cross Indigenous burial grounds and sacred places.
You might not like this Act and feel like venting your opposition. Be careful. Section 12 lays out penalties for hindering, obstructing or interfering with site inspections or expropriations. And there are penalties for those who damage, alter or tamper with, remove or destroy any equipment installed, placed or left upon land.
Fines for a first offence for corporations are set at not more than $500,000 and an additional $10,000 per day “on which the offence continues after the day it commences.”
A second conviction will cost the corporation “not more than $1,000,000 plus not more than an additional $10,000 for each day on which the offence continues after the day it commences.”
There’s a bargain rate for individuals who protest and are convicted. A first offence will cost not more than $50,000. Keep protesting and it will set you back an additional $10,000 for each day. Get convicted for a second time and be prepared for a fine of not more than $100,000 plus up to an additional $10,000 per day for further protesting.
Highway 413 Act (Schedule 3)
The Act is about moving this so-called priority highway forward. Highway 413 would be a 52-kilometre road connecting Peel, Halton and York. There is considerable opposition to it; one poll says 74% are against its creation. Highway #413 threatens the Greenbelt, farms, forests, and waterways. It will cost taxpayers over $10 billion and would save drivers less than 1 minute across the region. This motorway will cross 132 creeks and streams and destroy or partially destroy 75 wetlands There are better alternatives.
This Act could be more appropriately named the Doug Ford Exemption Act. That is because the Act spares the government from many rules meant to protect our environment.
First of all, there are exemptions from the “Environmental Assessment Act the Highway 413 Project, including any change to the Highway 413 Project.”
Then there are “exemptions for The Highway 413 early works projects.”
Early works might be a new term for you. The Highway 413 early works projects entail constructing an embankment, bridges, fencing and “such other activities for or related to Highway 413 or extensions of Highway 410 and Highway 427 to connect them to Highway 413 as may be prescribed.”
Some of us fondly recall the Environmental Assessment Act. Originally passed in 1975 the EAA requires proponents to consider and assess alternatives to proposed development. There will be no alternatives explored under this legislation.
There’s more.
The Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) 1993 doesn’t apply either. The EBR gives residents the right to participate in environmental decision-making. Until 2019 the provincial government’s compliance with the EBR was monitored by the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. Ford got rid of that position. The ECO’s responsibilities were transferred to the Auditor General of Ontario. (Recently in her Annual Report, the Auditor General noted that an EBR exemption given to the Ontario Place project was only the second time this has occurred. So, it would seem that these Highway #413 exemptions are only the third time in more than thirty years that the province has granted an EBR exemption.
And still there is more. It is positively raining exemptions.
Bill 212 would completely exempt Highway 413 from the Greenbelt Plan, along with other Provincial Plans, and even the Ontario government’s own Provincial Planning Statement.
Perhaps even more egregious are the sections on Indigenous consultation. Although not an exemption per se, these sections are much more worrying as they violate basic principles contained in the UNDRIP (United Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples – Articles 19 and 28). That is because the sections on consultation “Fail to meaningfully uphold and respect the rights of Indigenous people including the duty to consult, according to ON Nature . In fact, UNDRIP, to which Canada is a signatory, obliges the government to obtain free, prior and informed consent before moving ahead on a significant project.
Highway Traffic Act – Schedule 4
Schedule 4 deals with The Bicycle Lanes.
The government’s position is pretty clear. Bicycle lanes “unduly diminish the orderly movement of motor vehicle traffic.”
To address this perceived transgression of excess bike capacity, the Minister of Transportation will now have the power to require traffic information from a municipality. If it is determined traffic is being unduly affected, the Minister can inform the Lieutenant Governor. She may then authorize the Minister to remove the bike lane. Poof! – just like that the bike lane is gone.
As far as those Toronto bike lanes on Bloor Street, University Avenue and Yonge Street. they are already doomed according to Section 195.6 of the legislation. Lanes will be restored and we are told that the days of the orderly movement of motor vehicle traffic will resume.
What’s Next?
As seniors we have seen progress in appreciating the terrible damage humans are inflicting on the planet. The Ford government appears oblivious to this reality.
Many other jurisdictions understand that building more highways is not the way to go; that wetlands and endangered species should be protected; that First Nations have rights under law to have free prior and informed consent on significant projects.
We must fight back against the silencing of opposition though the use of omnibus bills. The granting of exemptions to environmental legislation in order to avoid appropriate oversight must end.
Check out Environmental Defence to find out how to fight back against the Ford government’s wrong-headed efforts to build more roads and exacerbate climate change.
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SCAN! volunteers have prepared a comprehensive examination of the Ontario government’s “climate crimes.” They are ongoing. Read about axing
the Environment Commissioner and the excessive use of Omnibus Bills on the SCAN! Website.
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Port Rowan’s Bob Wood is a SCAN! member who worked many years in social justice and municipal politics.
If you found this blog post interesting and informative, please consider joining the Education Committee and helping with our work. We also welcome comments and feedback. Please contact Sue Craig at susan.craig@sympatico.ca