CCLA Slams Ontario’s Power Grab in Bill 5

MONTREAL —  Anaïs Bussières McNicoll, Director of Fundamental Freedoms at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), made the following statement:

CCLA calls on Ontario’s legislature to reject Schedule 9 of Bill 5, the Special Economic Zones Act (Schedule 9).

Schedule 9 allows Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade to exempt “trusted proponents” and “designated projects” within “special economic zones” from having to comply with provincial and municipal laws. The catch? These three terms can mean pretty much anything, as they are not defined in the Act and are left entirely to Cabinet’s discretion.

This alarming move enables the executive branch of the government to unilaterally do away with legal safeguards that protect vulnerable communities and Indigenous people, paving the way for corporations to bypass labour and environmental laws.

There are times when exceptional decision-making power, including the power to provide exemptions from typical laws, needs to be vested in the executive branch of government. We typically see this type of power exercised under emergency power statutes – which were last invoked during the pandemic.

This must be the democratic exception, not the norm.

The extraordinary power to circumvent the legislature and existing laws should only be utilized in well defined, exceptional circumstances.  Even then, the exercise of such extraordinary emergency powers should be subject to checks and balances—such as clear and exigent statutory thresholds, a temporary duration, and some level of democratic oversight. Schedule 9 fails on all counts.