As a citizen of Ontario I…

As a citizen of Ontario I have a few deep concerns with the amendments that are being made in this bill. It doesn't seem to take into account the safety and security of the citizens of our province but make it so that business' can turn a quick profit while allowing them to take advantage of municipalities and citizens all the same. Especially troubling are the unspoken long term effects of the decisions that are being made and their potential impact to future generations, as well as the impacts on the environment which this government has made clear it has no regard for.

Schedule 2 will allow the rise of individuals to go forth for personal gain and allow those who typically use the services of pawnbrokers to be taken advantage of allowing further negative financial implications to some of the lowest paid workers in Ontario. This is not good business to allow what should be basic consumer protections to fall by the wayside so easily.

Schedule 3 is deeply concerning due to the understanding as an involved parent that there is a lot of work, patience, and vigilance that goes into ensuring the safety and security of those who are the most vulnerable. Increasing the number of children that ECE providers would be allowed to watch would at best have a marginally positive impact on the average individual in allowing greater access to childcare, which is at the detriment of safety of the children who are being cared for. We have rules in schools for this reason and it has been proven over and over again that increasing the number of children that a single individual can watch has negative psychological implications for the child due to the need to personalised support in early development.

Schedule 5 is not only scary but deeply immoral, as an elected government it should be the duty of each and every individual to protect the citizens health, well being and safety. It is already understood that implications of using toxic substances around protected water/sources of groundwater for human consumption??? the individual who is responsible for wavering these protections should be held liable for any and all negative impacts for the indefinite future. To commit to repealing these rules while ensuring that citizens are uninformed prior to decisions being made that have enormous environmental and health implications is wrong, the future of our province is our people not our profits.

Schedule 7 is baffling considering that we are going to allow stuffed and upholstered articles that are going to be unregulated. Wavering basic protections that make the products that we might give to our infants and children who had a propensity to put things in their mouths safe, I simply cannot understand. Additionally all products should be held to a standard that offers protections to all citizens ensuring that regardless of what it is, it is safe to handle. The repealing of the wireless services agreement would mark a very sad day in the history of consumer protections considering that a good majority of the concessions that are in this agreement are meant to protect consumers of all ages (especially those of the older generations who may not understand technology), by requiring that providers provide and enter agreements only upon the condition that said agreements are fair and easily understood by the consumer. The idea of favouring corporations over citizens is something that I don't understand considering we are in a democratic society and your government was elected by the people

Schedule 9 is something that should never be followed through with considering that the concessions that are being made are ONLY hurting the employees that you are hoping that these business' will utilise. Taking away what should be basic rights of the worker is immoral and has shown historically as being detrimental to overall operations, "you can't build a building without a good foundation" and employees are that foundation. Taking away information that should be easily accessible to all employees will be to the detriment to a vast majority of new employees and employees who are new to the country alike. All protections should be afforded to everyone regardless of your understanding of the rules, and given that we as humans naturally take advantage of one another for personal gain. Not allowing unionisation of certain employees will open doors to allow less skilled individuals who may not be updated on the rules/safety standards that are required to work in a specific profession, allowing anyone who may claim to be able to take on said profession this might be led to be paid for by human lives. Stripping current employees of their current protections is in itself immoral considering that those who have jobs are the ones who have money to spend and drive the consumer economy which is at an all time low. Protect the workers not the companies!

Schedule 10 is truly saddening. The protections that are in place in regards to building regulations and the bylaws within should not be able to be wavered by municipalities. Given the long term impact that these decisions could have on future populations, the environment, the flora and fauna that we have forced to work so hard to live along side the human activities that have progressively take away the natural environments that they once thrived in. It can be understood that this is an attempt at making it easier for business' to conduct business by allowing them to build in sensitive areas but this is a rash decision and it doesn't seem like this was done with any consultation considering the promise that our premier (who I might add went back on his original policy of protecting the greenbelt) made to Ontarians upon his run up to his election. Opening up all the land across this vast and beautiful province is incredibly dangerous, and damaging to the fragile ecosystems that are within it.

This bill shows all Ontarians loudly and clearly that this government is for the corporations and not "for the people" as they would have us believe. The amendments that are being made in this bill will possibly increase profitability for a few corporations but it has been already shown that giving concessions to companies simply allows profits to be higher and does not ensure the benefit to any single citizen who does not call themselves an executive. The amendments are not only incredibly damaging to the environment, but can lead to and most likely will be paid in human lives. The people of Ontario are not merely pawns in a game who's propose is to ensure that business' can continue to take advantage of citizens/the environment without accountability. If this bill is passed it would be a step backwards in this political system that we call a democracy (I won't open that can of worms). We are a democratic society and it is time that our government started actually listening to the people who's taxes keep the wheels spinning. If this government took the time to speak to average Ontarians (not only those who are in the upper echelons and can afford to buy their way out of trouble) about the amendments being made by this bill I'm certain that few would agree fully that this is a good thing. This government should do the right thing "for the people" and not pass this bill and instead research into the full impact of the amendments made within. A strong building starts with a strong foundation and Ontario's foundation are it's people.