Premier Doug Ford's government reintroduced legislation meant to crack down on homeless encampments in Ontario.
If passed, the Safer Municipalities Act would create a new law specifically prohibiting the consumption of illegal drugs in public, including in tents in parks. It would also give police greater authority to confront, arrest and fine anyone they suspect is using drugs in public.
The Safer Municipalities Act would also tweak the provincial trespass law, making it so that higher fines can be given when someone is deemed an "occupier" of a property.
The bill, if passed, would allow for fines of up to $10,000 for people found to have broken the public drug-consumption or trespassing laws. Anyone found guilty of breaking the drug consumption law could also be sentenced to up to six months in jail.
“We have heard loud and clear from the people of Ontario: they want their parks and public spaces to be protected and safe for everyone to enjoy,” Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Rob Flack said in a news release.
Flack tabled the Safer Municipalities Act on Wednesday. His bill is the same, content-wise, as legislation his predecessor introduced in December. Then-municipal affairs minister Paul Calandra's Safer Municipalities Act — like every other unpassed bill — evaporated when the previous parliament dissolved as a result of Ford's early election call.
When Calandra introduced the bill the first time, Ontario's opposition parties criticized the changes as heavy-handed and harmful to vulnerable people.
The Progressive Conservatives promised in their election platform to bring back and pass the Safer Municipalities Act if re-elected. They won a third straight majority on Feb. 27.
In 2023, Ontario municipalities tallied 1,400 encampments in communities across the province. The provincial government counted 703 encampments in Ontario in March 2025, according to a news release it published on Wednesday.
Last year, upwards of 80,000 people in Ontario experienced homelessness, according to a report the Association of Municipalities of Ontario released in January.
