I thought the Conservatives…

I thought the Conservatives seemed to be handling the Covid-19 crisis well, but now it appears there was another self-serving agenda at work behind the scenes. Both Bill 197 (the subject of this ERO posting) and the recent Bill 195 were cut and designed from the same power-hungry ‘cloth’.

I absolutely OPPOSE the government’s proposal to exempt Ministry of Transportation Projects from the Environmental Assessment Act. When this Act was introduced in 1975, the provincial population was 8,319,795, and by 2019, it had risen to 14,566,547. The human population of Ontario is set to double in a period of only 45 years, and it continues to make the greatest demands on the landscape.

Clearly, a growing human population and their related activities have a greater impact on the environment. The Covid-19 outbreak painfully demonstrated Ontario has not conserved enough open greenspace and natural areas within its network of expanding official municipal plans, as those areas (particularly in southern Ontario) were swamped by individuals who were seeking recreational activities during the Covid-19 lockdown. As a result, those potential areas of 'reprieve' also had to be closed to public use.

Then, many of those individuals tried to escape to areas with lower populations (such as Muskoka), thereby transferring the risk for Covid-19 there. The recent draft official plan for my own municipality allows neighbourhood parks to be set aside at a skimpy 0.5 hectare per 1,000 residents. Obviously, social distancing requirements of a MINIMUM of two metres could not possibly apply within such parks. This is land use cramming to permit more cheek-by-jowl developments, not land use planning. And, where is the consideration for threatened species and ecological systems & services, already under dire threat from human activities?

While the Ontario government is gung-ho for highways, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk has already commented that Ontario has no realistic plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under its current plan set out to 2030, so what is going on here?

In December 2019, CTV-Kitchener news reported the following: "Ontario is unlikely to meet its 2030 emissions target under its current climate change plan -- and Premier Doug Ford's government knows it, the province's auditor general said Wednesday in her annual report.

Bonnie Lysyk found a number of issues with the government's "Made in Ontario" climate plan, which she said underestimated the starting point for emissions by including several green programs that were actually cancelled by the Progressive Conservatives after they came to power last year."

EAA requirements have ALREADY been REMOVED from Forest Management Planning; projects in ALL provincial parks and conservation reserves; supposedly ‘streamlined’ for highways and transportation corridors, and ‘modified’ for proposed transit projects, which are now destined for EXEMPTIONS under this ERO posting. The EAA is being downgraded, and loaded with exemptions, to encourage some version of a "scorched earth" policy in Ontario. And what has this got to do with Covid-19?

This government shows a biting recalcitrance and complete disregard towards any consideration for the environment or public input. This government’s initial attempt to throw out public consultations was embedded within Schedule 10 of Bill 66, and the Conservative government received such a negative public response that it withdrew Schedule 10. Now, we see the original Schedule 10 (condemned by the public) has mutated and spread through this Omnibus Bill 197 like Covid-19, infecting all kinds of legislation, such as the Education Act, the Drainage Act, the Planning Act, and the Building Code Act, and a host of other legislation. This is nothing but an excuse NOT to engage with the public, NOR protect the environment. And WHEN did the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing transmogrify into the Provincial Czar of all legislation as Bill 197 implies? Why has this man been selected to run the entire province? Did he lead some kind of dictatorial ‘coup’ during the pandemic lockdown, seizing control of Ontario through Bill 197?

This government insults the intelligence of the general public with this outrageous governmental pretence, insisting such measures are a necessary response to Covid-19. This is nothing but a galloping de-regulation agenda hidden behind a health crisis. If this government was concerned about Covid-19, it would be upgrading and expanding the Environmental Assessment Act in response to this pandemic, not gutting it with more and more exemptions. And what about the NEXT pandemic?

Schedules 19 and 20 (below) are copied verbatim from Bill 197 (Chapter 18 of the Statutes of Ontario 2020), An Act to amend various statutes in response to COVID-19 and to enact, amend and repeal various statutes, as presented by The Hon. S. Clark Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, which received 2nd, 3rd readings and Royal Assent on 21 July 2020. First reading occurred on 8 July 2020.
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"SCHEDULE 19
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AND HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT ACT

The Schedule eliminates hearings of necessity for expropriations of property under the Act and provides that the Minister may establish a process for receiving comments from property owners about such expropriations.

SCHEDULE 20
TRANSIT-ORIENTED COMMUNITIES ACT, 2020

The Schedule enacts a new Transit-Oriented Communities Act, 2020, which also amends the Ministry of Infrastructure Act, 2011.

Transit-Oriented Communities Act, 2020

The Transit-Oriented Communities Act, 2020 permits the Lieutenant Governor in Council to designate land as transit-oriented community land if specified conditions apply. The Act defines “transit-oriented community project” for the purpose.

The Act provides that if land, any part of which is transit-oriented community land, is expropriated in specified circumstances, a related hearings process under the Expropriations Act does not apply in relation to the expropriation. The Act permits the establishment of a process for receiving and considering comments from property owners respecting a proposed expropriation of such land.

Ministry of Infrastructure Act, 2011

The Ministry of Infrastructure Act, 2011 is amended to permit the Minister to make investments supporting or developing transit-oriented community projects related to priority transit projects."
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These sections represent nothing more than wanton expropriations, permitting the government to do whatever it wants, or do whatever its ‘handlers’ want. This is a Bill that hands control to developers, builders, and bull-dozers.

Kingston area MPP Ian Arthur says Bill 197 is potentially illegal because it lacks public consultation. He contacted Auditor General, Bonnie Lysyk, asking her to investigate Bill 197 for violating the Environmental Bill of Rights. “According to the Ontario environmental bill of rights, the government must consult the public for 30 days when considering all new laws, regulations or policies that impact land, air, water and wildlife in Ontario.”

Ms. Lysyk confirmed that “any amendments to legislation concerning the environment need to be made available for the public on the Environmental Registry to consult for 30 days, as per the Environmental Bill of Rights.” And, I would add that the public must be HEARD, not simply consulted through some empty exercise.

There have been no such consultations for Bill 197, which was introduced just 14 days before it became law. Talk about a RUSH to get this extensive Omnibus Bill passed. Clearly, it has not be well-considered as various factions revised legislation to give certain parties (not the public) what they wanted.

Mr. Ford claims this process is “smarter and quicker”. Perhaps Covid-19 has infected the Conservative Caucus, meaning all members are now suffering from a dangerous neurological irregularity that causes them to crave complete and over-arching power. Bill 197 must be RESCINDED due to its pathological ‘origin’. Let’s wait until Conservative MPPs have recovered some sense of the meaning of ‘public service’.

And, NO MORE extending “emergency” legislation over the next year or two, allowing all power to be concentrated in the hands of this Conservative government (as stipulated in Bill 195).