You may have heard about Doug Ford’s proposed Bill 5. But maybe not, since it was sneaked on to the Legislative Agenda over the Easter weekend. Bill 5 gives one of Ford’s hand-picked ministers the power to suspend all provincial laws in a designated geographic location – and this location could be Napanee. 

This means no laws regulating provincial taxes, sale of public lands, prisons, hospitals, property and civil rights, civil and criminal justice, education, and natural resources. It means no Endangered Species Act, no requirement to consult with First Nations or other Indigenous groups on archeological matters. 

Bill 5 contains no purpose, no science, no consultation, no legislative oversight, no strategy, no planning. An Environmental Defense lawyer says it is clearly unconstitutional, but Ford is prepared to use the Notwithstanding Clause to gain absolute power. 

If Bill 5 was drafted by a high school civics class, I would give them a failing grade. After pretending to defend us from aggression from the U.S., Ford has out-trumped Trump, and he thinks we are too uninformed, too lazy, and too distracted to notice that he has promoted himself from Premier to Absolute Dictator so he can reward his developer friends again. 

But we can defend our democracy. Call our MPP, Ric Bresee at 613-354-3031 and tell him that we don’t want Bill 5, we don’t want to live in a dictatorship.

Steven Moore

Tamworth