Bill 28 is gone, but Bill 23 is still here

Jeff Green | Nov 16, 2022

A lot of families with younger school aged children found themselves scrambling two weeks ago, when a contract dispute between Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), representing education workers in Ontario schools, and the Ontario government, became a game of chicken.

Instead of continuing to negotiate with CUPE, the government tabled and passed Bill 28 in one day.

The Bill was so radical that the government of Ontario knew it contravened the Constitution of Canada, and they pre-emptively invoked the controversial “notwithstanding clause” in the constitution, in order to ensure it would not be summarily rejected by the courts which is where CUPE would certainly have taken it.

The union held firm, and not surprisingly, given the implications for collective bargaining across the entire Ontario public sector, not only did it trigger a school strike already, but a general public sector union day of action was being hastily planned.

Ontario had moved from a period of labour peace, to picket lines at MPP’s offices, and the prospect of a pre-Christmas season of strikes in all public sector workplaces, just as the economy appears to be headed into a recession.

Then, just as quickly, ten days ago, the Premier said his government would revoke the legislation if CUPE called off the strike and returned to bargaining. This, when it was the government who left the bargaining table a week earlier, not the union.

While Bill 28 has garnered a lot of attention. The Ford government has been very busy elsewhere.

Bill 23, the oddly named the “More Homes Built Faster Act”, is poised to curtail the role of Conservation Authorities, and municipalities, over land use planning approvals, ostensibly in order to help more Ontarians find housing.

But the impact of the changes will be more about centralising control over what gets approved for building in Ontario, in the hands of the provincial government than about encouraging housing projects aimed at lower and middle income Ontarians.

But unlike Bill 28, Bill 23 is not top of mind for most Ontarians. And timing the public comment period, to coincide with the period between the recent municipal election and the inauguration of the new councils, is pretty convenient if muting the response from municipal politicians was what the government had in mind.

If the Conservation Authorities are right about the implications of Bill 23, that it will result in more cost for municipalities, and/or less protection for wetlands preservation and water quality, it will take time for those impacts to be felt.

It’s nothing like the kind of direct impact of an education strike on the day to day lives of families with school aged children

That’s why Bill 28 is gone, but Bill 23 is headed towards enactment

In order to sign a petition from Ontario Nature opposing Bill 23, click here

(To submit a comment regarding the proposed changes to regulations pertaining to wetland evaluations, click here)

Make a submission to the Ontario government by 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17. Start here. Use this tool kit on how to make a written submission to the committee hearings on Bill 23