Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is moving to limit debate and avoid public input on three pieces of legislation, including one that would end the province’s speed camera program.
Government House Leader Steve Clark is fast tracking a red tape reduction bill that includes banning speed cameras, a labour bill and an emergency management bill.
The government plans to stop any further debate at the second reading stage for the three bills, then entirely bypass the committee stage that usually follows — a time to hear from the public on the bill and make any amendments — and limit debate time for the final, third reading stage.
Ford has been vocal over the past couple of months in his opposition to speed cameras, calling them a “cash grab” only meant to generate revenue for municipalities, but the communities themselves, as well as parents, police chiefs and researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children have said they save lives and should stay.
Clark said the ministers responsible indicated they were good with the debate that had already occurred in the House for second reading. The bills will still get some debate, Clark noted.
“I could have decided to use closure, and I could have completely cut off debate,” he said while debating the motion.
On speed cameras and the red tape reduction bill as a whole, the premier talked about speed cameras all summer and there has been spirited public debate, Clark said.
“No one should be surprised that the government wants to move this bill forward after we’ve been talking about it all summer into the fall,” Clark said in the legislature.
NDP house leader John Vanthof stood in the legislature to read quotes from Clark when he was Opposition house leader and decried similar moves by the government of the day — as he has done before when the Progressive Conservatives limit debate.
But Vanthof first said that the government would not have to worry about scheduling if it had not waited until Oct. 20 to have the legislature resume from its summer break.
“The government house leader said, ‘Well, it’s part of scheduling, you know, and we have to solidify scheduling,’” Vanthof said.
“Well, part of your scheduling problem is that you showed up a month and a half late. So you slept in and now you’re rushing stuff through.”
The government limited debate and committee time on numerous bills in the legislature’s spring sitting, and Liberal parliamentary leader John Fraser said it feels like Groundhog Day as the government already starts bypassing normal processes in week two of the fall sitting.
“They just figure they can do whatever they want, and that people aren’t paying attention,” he said.
“You’ve got to take time. You’ve got to get it right. You’ve got to listen to the other side. And the government’s not listening … When you fast track stuff like this the way that they’re doing it, it doesn’t serve anybody, and it makes for really bad pieces of legislation.”
More than 20 mayors from across the province have asked Ford to tweak the speed camera program instead of scrapping it entirely, but Ford quickly shut them down.
Ford has said he doesn’t believe speed cameras work to prevent speeding, saying traffic calming measures such as speed bumps, roundabouts and big signs with flashing lights are more effective.
Data from several municipalities that have analyzed the effect of the cameras on traffic speeds, as well as a different study from SickKids and Toronto Metropolitan University, show speeds are reduced.
The red tape bill would also allow for greater movement of workers, largely in health care, between provinces and “streamline” the Clean Water Act.
The labour bill includes requiring automatic external defibrillators on construction sites and requiring job posting platforms to have mechanisms to report fraudulent job advertisements. The emergency management bill sets out roles and responsibilities the government says would enable better communication and co-ordination.
