025-0391 Bill 5 is a…

025-0391
Bill 5 is a disguise. Packaged as a growth strategy, these special economic zones are “Constitution-free Zones.” Schedule 9 dismantles decades of environmental protections. It bulldozes environmental oversight for the benefit of industry, not the people.
Because this isn’t about sustainability. It’s about access — access to land, to profit and to unchecked power.
If Bill 5 was truly meant to serve Ontarians, it wouldn’t be pushed through right after an election, and announced on the eve of Easter weekend. It wouldn’t be buried while attention is elsewhere. It wouldn’t be fast-tracked to bypass public input, it would invite it.
This bill is undemocratic. anti-democratic because it delegates the elected legislature’s power to determine what laws govern Ontario to the premier and his chosen cabinet. It also enables them to arbitrarily apply different laws (or no laws) to different people.
Schedule 9 removes requirements for consultation with indigenous communities, silencing their rights and voices.
Schedule 9 would allow the premier and cabinet to take full control over decisions that are usually made by the legislature. This means they could decide which provincial and municipal laws would apply to “special economic zones”, the geographic extent of the law’s applicability, and even the specific individuals and companies to which the law applies.
Schedule 9 provisions enable the premier and cabinet to hand out exemptions to:
Any portion of Ontario they choose, any initiative or project they choose, any provincial or municipal law whatsoever (e.g. Planning Act, Environmental Protection Act, Occupational Health and Safety Act, Highway Traffic Act, and Trespass to Property Act) for any purpose whatsoever.
Schedule 9 is extreme and it is undemocratic. As an Ontarian, I have a right to live in a democracy where laws passed by the legislature count.