So your provincial government is MAGA 2.0

look at that - I've got something to say today!

Yesterday Bill 5 passed in Ontario despite massive opposition from First Nations, environmental groups, and many other people and organizations. Doug Ford was not present for the vote, because he is too cowardly to stand up and own his corrupt actions.

Here’s Bill 5 in a nutshell (excerpted from this article):

1. One part of Bill 5 creates a new provincial law called the Special Economic Zones Act. It would give cabinet the authority to designate any location in Ontario a special economic zone, where the government can exempt companies or projects from complying with provincial laws or regulations.

2. Bill 5 scraps Ontario's Endangered Species Act and replaces it with an entirely new law called the Species Conservation Act, which critics say waters down protections. More than 100 conservation groups have written a joint letter to the Environment Minister Todd McCarthy calling the proposed changes egregious.

3. The Bill fast tracks mining projects in First Nations territories where the people are strongly in opposition. It also fast tracks a landfill (without full environmental review) in Dresden that is being massively opposed by residents.

Other notable provisions in the bill:

• Exempt the province from providing public notice of any changes to the Ontario Place redevelopment project. (The one where they’ve given a decades-long lease on public land to a private spa - for $1 if my memory serves - and bulldozed 800 trees in the dead of night, and committed billions of public dollars to helping build the infrastructure for the spa, and committed to emptying the spa’s sewage into the public waters where people swim, all amidst tremendous public outcry. Doug Ford says “No more public comment on that, thank you. None of your business.”)

• Allow cabinet to exempt any property from a requirement for an archaeological assessment under the Ontario Heritage Act.

• Prohibit lawsuits against the province related to various provisions in Bill 5, including the designation of special economic zones.

In short, the government has given themselves sweeping, unregulated powers that fundamentally undermine our democracy, ignore their treaty responsibilities to First Nations communities, and will be environmentally devastating…and then they have prohibited anyone from suing them for the damage they are doing.

I am so unsurprised and full of rage at the same time. This government has always pretended to be different than this, but it’s been a very thin smoke screen. Anyone who actually cares to look has always been able to see right through it. Talk to my local MPP David Piccini for a few minutes and he will charmingly convince you of a bunch of things. Go home and look it up and you’ll discover he was lying right to your face - an experience I’ve had several times.

I am keeping my eyes open for what we do now. As a farmer I’ve already contacted the Ontario Farmland Trust to find out how effective their work is at stopping the province from appropriating land. (If you’re a farmer and want to know the answer to this question, be in touch.)

There is talk of Idle No More 2.0, which I will be following with interest. This is the time to be loud, to fight against this power-grabbing overreach. I will be looking for all the ways to join this fight, and I’ll share them here as I find them.

For now, I think it would be wonderful if David Piccini could hear from his constituents what a disappointment he is. If you’re feeling inclined to send him a message his email is david.piccini@pc.ola.org.

With love and rage,

Shannon