I have lived in Ontario all…

I have lived in Ontario all of my life. Recently, I attended a town council meeting where I live and was shocked to find out about the details within Bill 212. To say that this bill is draconian and terrifying is not an understatement.

The fact that this bill impacts so many different pieces of legislation is very scary and makes it very hard to keep track of all the changes that are being suggested and the impact of those changes on our already existing laws. I feel that this bill has been written to be intentionally confusing to be able to push through any project that the Province wants (regardless of what the people who live in the Province actually want) and on whatever timeline the Province wants. This is absolutely not acceptable! MPPs are elected for a reason - and creating legislation like this, that takes away rights of our citizens and completely disregards negative impacts to the environment is not democratic at all!

Bill 212 will take away consultation with Indigenous Peoples about Highway 413. Given all that has happened in the past few years, I cannot fathom why the Province would think this is acceptable at all.

The details in Bill 212 about the expropriation of land are shocking [Building Highways Faster Act, sections 3(1), 9(1)(e), 13(6), 13(9), 13(11)]. This Bill allows police to enter dwellings, land to be taken by force and no opportunity for an individual property owner to be able to appeal the date on which they need to leave their land. Many of the people that own these lands are seniors that have lived on the land for many decades - imagine if you were near the end of your life (or even in a palliative state) and were told you need to vacate your property and all your decades of belongings within 90 days. And you can't even ask for a reconsideration of the timeline. That's not the kind of Ontario that I want to live in. The Province should not be bullying its citizens - that is not democracy, that's a dictatorship.

The fines to an individual for obstructing or not vacating the land to be expropriated are shockingly high [Building Highways Faster Act, section 12(4)]. It's a shame that the Province would go to these lengths to advance projects they deem are important (without having the backing of the citizens), but the Province would not take the same action to increase fines for illegal land use (which is a problem all over the GTA). If only the Province would take action to punish the people breaking laws, instead of bullying good and decent citizens - this Province would not be deteriorating as badly as it is.

The details in Bill 212 regarding the impact to the environment and cultural heritage are also terrifying. The proposed Highway 413 Act, section 2(1) means that Highway 413 (or any GTA West Corridor project) does not have to follow the Environmental Assessment Act. We have the Environmental Assessment Act for a reason - to protect the environment. To proceed with any project and completely disregard the Environmental Assessment Act should be illegal. The Province should not be writing a Bill to absolve them from following the law. Paving over environmentally sensitive lands and destroying habitats for threatened and endangered species to build a highway that we don't need makes no sense at all.

What I find even more shocking is section 6(4) of the Highway 413 Act - this allows the Minister to not publish studies or updates to studies that contain information about sensitive natural or cultural heritage matters. To me, this means that whatever studies are done, any studies that are negative or the public would not see as positive - these studies would be hidden from the public. What exactly does the Province have to hide here? How is this democratic at all??? Why even bother doing studies at all, if you are only going to accept ones that say go ahead with your project? I don't really know how you can live with yourselves in doing this.

The Highway 413 Act, sections 12(1) & 12(2) would allow the highway to go against policies in the Planning Act and Provincial Plan. What is the point of having these pieces of legislation if you are just going to disregard them? And how are municipalities expected to plan their communities if you keep changing the rules?

Section 13 of the proposed Highway 413 Act removes the ability of the public to participate in anything to do with the environmental assessment process. Again, this is shocking that the rights of Ontarians to have a say in how their land is being used is being taken away. The existing process that involves the public is that way because we are a democracy - our elected officials are expected to follow the laws that are in place - not write legislation to circumvent those laws.

What kind of place is this? The last time I looked, I lived in a democratic country - with this bill, my rights and the rights of all Ontarians would be completely disregarded in order to pave over green space and agricultural land for a highway that this Province does not need. This would also set the precedent for the Province to keep doing this same thing over & over again for whatever project they deem is important (without consulting or considering what the people who elected you actually want). That is a dictatorship - not democracy. You should all be ashamed of yourselves - I don't know how you can proceed with this bill and look your families and your constituents in the eye.

I ask that the Province scrap Bill 212 and instead, focus your time and energy on following the laws that are already in place and proceeding with infrastructure projects that will actually help this Province and the environment (like investing in public transit and better using the highways that already exist, like the 407 and allowing trucks to use that highway either for free or at a highly discounted rate). You should not be spending your time taking away the rights of Ontarians and destroying the environment - that is not why you were elected. Follow and respect the laws of our democracy - that's what we expect of you.

A concerned Ontario resident