Guelph city council is speaking out against the province and demanding it follow its own laws.
Tuesday’s planning meeting ended with a discussion around Doug Ford’s recently introduced Bill 5, which establishes special economic zones, where certain projects can be exempted from provincial laws.
Coun. Leanne Caron prompted the discussion, asking council to formally condemn both Bill 5 and Bill 17.
“Both Bill 5 and 17 remove what I consider to be significant protections that protect human health, Indigenous rights, labour laws, (and) democratic principles,” she said.
“Our MPP Mike Schreiner called it one of the worst pieces of legislation that he’s seen coming out of Queen’s Park. I agree with that assessment, and I think we have an obligation to reflect our community and our city in responding to those bills.”
Two members of the community provided delegations on the matter: Rachel Vear from Water Watchers and Evan Ferrari from eMERGE Guelph.
Vear said Bill 5 is a “direct threat to democratic process and Indigenous treaty rights, while simultaneously stripping Ontario of environmental regulations and protections.”
“What we are witnessing right now will be the history that is told one day, and I hope you choose to be on the right side of it,” she said.
Bill 5 seeks to employ special economic zones, where certain development projects would be exempt from municipal, provincial and federal laws, she said.
While the intent is to streamline developments, she said developers “would not have to follow any law, guideline or restriction due to environmental or community concerns.”
“Let’s be clear: the attack on democracy proposed in this bill will affect us all. The community of Guelph has important protections in place that have taken decades of advocacy,” Vear said.
“The power of this bill could have Queen's Park overriding all of your interests as well. These zones could be anywhere, and we would be powerless to stand against them.”
Ferrari added Queen’s Park “needs to hear a very loud no from the City of Guelph to these oppressive and heavy-handed bills.”
“Simply stated, the province needs to obey existing laws, not throw them out,” he said.
Caron noted there is “no evidence” housing will be built faster with this legislation in place.
“If special economic zones require us to abandon the rule of law, then we are abandoning the very principles and purpose of government,” she said.
One of the most egregious parts of the bill, she said, is that certain provisions exempt the province from lawsuits, “so they can break the law… and then immunize themselves from being accountable to that.”
She added Bill 17 to the motion as it “removes many of the aspects of land use planning authority away from the municipal level.”
“It makes it impossible for us to do the work to reduce the impact of climate change,” she said, noting impact studies would no longer be required under Bill 17, so planning staff would have no way of preventing negative impacts.
“These bills combined are yet another nail in the coffin of good governance,” she said. “Any government that passes a bill to accept itself from its own laws is not a government. It is tyranny.”
She said the motion can be simplified into just a few words: "Premier Ford, obey your own laws.”
Though Mayor Cam Guthrie said there are some elements of Bill 17 he does support, the motions passed unanimously. Coun. Gibson previously declared a conflict of interest due to his employment, and was not part of the discussion or vote.
