Ontario! We are no longer under a STATE OF EMERGENCY – And we haven’t been for a while!

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

Regardless of your views regarding this pandemic, one thing that I think everyone can admit is that they wish that things would go back to normal. This new normal idea has become a scary reality, but what if I told you that we could have gone back to normal a long time ago?

What if I told you that Premier Doug Ford has set things up so that we are living like this for another two years; would you be okay with that?

I want to take this time to introduce to you another piece of information that has been barely talked about on mainstream media, but that we should all know about. WE ARE NO LONGER UNDER A STATE OF EMERGENCY.

We entered a state of emergency on March 17th, 2020. Do you remember how that felt when you heard that? I remember certain things very clearly: public libraries, private schools, childcare centres, recreational facilities, theatres, cinemas and concert venues were ordered to shut down. Bars, restaurants were ordered to close their doors and had to rely on takeout delivery services. We were not allowed to visit our friends or family, and anything that looked like an event was prohibited.

We were all scared, so we followed suit. For many of us, we had never experienced a state of emergency, and just the thought of it was terrifying. The conditions for what constitutes a state of emergency were in place. They are defined under the Emergency Measures and Civil Protection Act (EMPCA) as “a danger of major proportions that could result in serious harm to persons or substantial damage to property.” A state of emergency also requires that the government’s normally available resources (including legislation) may not be reliable or may be insufficient.

What are our rights under a declared state of emergency? Rights of mobility, privacy, free association and free assembly are limited, and this is justified under the balancing test set out in section 1 of the Charter. Premier Ford was able to impose laws that limited large groups, and limited public exposure. During the height of the pandemic, this made sense.

What many of us don’t know is that on July 24th, 2020 the state of emergency was declared OVER! What happened next is the part that many of us missed.

On the day that the state of emergency ended, Premier Ford introduced Bill 195 Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act 2020. What this Bill did was end the state of emergency, but then introduced a new power that allows the Ford Cabinet to extend and amend some of the emergency orders without the involvement of Ontario’s democratically elected Provincial Parliament. It allows the provincial government to extend powers given to them under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act indefinitely in thirty-day increments.

The Bill also allows the Cabinet to invest one single Minister with the power to amend emergency orders unilaterally. Guess who has that power? You know it, Premier Doug Ford. Here is the scary part; this dreaded existence that we are currently experiencing could go on for the next two years, and the only person who has the power to end it is Premier Ford.

That means until June 2022, under this proposed legislation, restrictions on the size of gatherings, or orders that keep businesses closed and override collective agreements for the redeployment of workers, are all extended and can even be amended. Orders allowing the sharing of personal health information and which allow for police to demand identification (carding) are also extended but cannot be amended.

“Bill 195 is an important piece of legislation that protects each and every citizen during the pandemic.”
Premier, Doug Ford

To some, Bill 195 is unconstitutional, and they are speaking up about it. The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (www.jccf.ca) has denounced the Ford government’s unconstitutional passage of Bill 195.

Bill 195 outrages The Ontario Federation of Labour. They strongly believe that workers have the right to bargain collectively with their employer under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but Bill 195 allows employers to bypass collective agreements in the workplace; deny vacation; and contract out jobs.

Premier Ford took it a step further when he punished an elected legislator for disagreeing with the transfer of power away from representatives to the provincial cabinet. Belinda Karahalios was democratically elected by the citizens of her Cambridge riding, and believes that Bill 195 is contrary to the Constitution, the rule of law and the best interests of her constituents. She was removed from the party’s caucus for voting in opposition to Premier Ford.

There seems to be a common theme here. If you speak out against the government you are either ignored, or silenced, but this is only the beginning. If we continue to allow the government to intrude on our rights, we may begin to see longer lockdowns, and more limits to our rights. They have already been given the power to make sweeping business closures that led to the loss of 1000’s of businesses. They were given the power to deny Ontarians the right to work and provide for their families. They even denied some people the right to see their families.

Knowledge is power, and we will continue to provide the knowledge to our people so that you can exercise your power. There are more of us then them; remember that. It is time to take a stand community. WE ARE NO LONGER UNDER A STATE OF EMERGENCY!