Will Provincial Bills hurt more than Trump's Tariffs?
June 2, 2025
Ontarians are rightly concerned by Trump's tarrif threats and want the Province to protect us.
This spring the Province introduced Bill 5 and Bill 17 claiming they will protect Ontario.
In reality, these bills make things much worse.
The Bills are power grabs. They will give the Premier and his Cabinet extraordinary powers to ignore key provincial laws they don't like: -Bill 5 creates Special Economic Zones anywhere in Ontario. Hand-picked companies chosen by the Province to do business in these zones are exempt from a whole host of existing laws. -Bill 17 briefing documents indicate the Province wants to give Ministers special powers to ignore any land use planning law they don't like.
The Bills eliminate key environmental protections: -Bill 5 guts the Species at Risk Act. -Bill 17 takes away municipal powers to use Green Building Standards to improve the environmental performance of new developments.
Bill 5 ignores important treaty obligations the Province has to First Nations: -The Chiefs of Ontario note it "threatens inherent rights, Treaty obligations and sovereignty."
The Bills will make it more difficult for Ontarians to find homes they can afford: -Bill 5's Special Economic Zones can be used to push more expensive sprawl housing anywhere the Province wants, perhaps even in the Greenbelt. -Bill 17 takes away municipal powers to require developers to include affordable units in new developments.
Expert Analysis
Read analyses of Bill 5 and Bill 17 by provincial housing expert and land use planner Victor Doyle to get a better picture of what they will mean for Ontarians.
His conclusion about Bill 17 offers a stark warning of what is at stake:
"[Bill 17] builds on and continues the concentration of power in the hands of the Province and individual ministers....in unaccountable ways while continuing the disenfranchisement of local municipal decision-making – all to primarily support... low density urban sprawl"
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