>For six years, Doug Ford has had a problem named Therme. Since the Ontario Premier agreed to hand over much of Ontario Place to that European waterpark operator, he has been plagued by a crush of allegations – chiefly, of rewriting the rules to serve a pet project and a well-connected business. He’s waved them away like a pesky swarm of flies.
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>He can’t so easily dismiss the Supreme Court of Canada. In a surprising move this week, the court agreed to hear a challenge of Mr. Ford’s 2023 Rebuilding Ontario Place Act. The move is the message: His aggressive, destructive, expensive remaking of this public park is no longer just weird. It may be unconstitutional.
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>The court, as is customary, did not explain its decision to hear the case. But the activists’ submission rests on two core claims: One, the government has tried to take Ontario Place entirely beyond the reach of provincial courts; and two, it has violated its obligation to the “public trust” on this well-loved bit of Toronto waterfront.
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>The Premier attempted to deflect attention Thursday with culture-war bluster, talking about parkland and complaining of “crazy lefties.” In truth, all the fuss and litigation traces back to Therme – and the province’s extraordinary efforts to clear the way for the Vienna-based conglomerate.
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>…
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>The damage cascaded from there. Queen’s Park is moving the beloved Ontario Science Centre to the site – at least partly as a pretext for the garage. It suddenly shut down the existing Science Centre, claiming that building needed to be closed for safety reasons. That was false: The government’s own engineers explicitly did not recommend closing the building. The old Science Centre now sits empty while the institution is reduced to a husk, another casualty of the Premier’s waterpark dreams.
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>Back at Ontario Place, the province demolished all 14 acres of the West Island last fall, spending $40-million to hurry the work, cutting down 800 trees and razing what had become a well-used public park.
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>All this was possible because of the government’s Rebuilding Ontario Place Act. It applies to the province and its partners, including Therme, and aims to exempt their work from environmental, planning and heritage rules, as well as civil and criminal liability.
Any politician that pushes policies that are exempt from oversight and regulation, whether it’s planning or environmental or social or cultural, should be questioned deeply about the reasons for these exemptions and what the consequences might be. Trite answers such as “the economy” or the like isn’t really sufficient in its vagueness. It will be interesting to see how the court rules, and whether the province will look to ignore that ruling as well, if things go against their will.
Radix838 on
By my count, this will be the 4th law passed by the Ford government to go before the Supreme Court. So far, his government has won 2 and lost 1.
2 Comments
Some of the more pertinent issues:
>For six years, Doug Ford has had a problem named Therme. Since the Ontario Premier agreed to hand over much of Ontario Place to that European waterpark operator, he has been plagued by a crush of allegations – chiefly, of rewriting the rules to serve a pet project and a well-connected business. He’s waved them away like a pesky swarm of flies.
>
>He can’t so easily dismiss the Supreme Court of Canada. In a surprising move this week, the court agreed to hear a challenge of Mr. Ford’s 2023 Rebuilding Ontario Place Act. The move is the message: His aggressive, destructive, expensive remaking of this public park is no longer just weird. It may be unconstitutional.
>
>The court, as is customary, did not explain its decision to hear the case. But the activists’ submission rests on two core claims: One, the government has tried to take Ontario Place entirely beyond the reach of provincial courts; and two, it has violated its obligation to the “public trust” on this well-loved bit of Toronto waterfront.
>
>The Premier attempted to deflect attention Thursday with culture-war bluster, talking about parkland and complaining of “crazy lefties.” In truth, all the fuss and litigation traces back to Therme – and the province’s extraordinary efforts to clear the way for the Vienna-based conglomerate.
>
>…
>
>The damage cascaded from there. Queen’s Park is moving the beloved Ontario Science Centre to the site – at least partly as a pretext for the garage. It suddenly shut down the existing Science Centre, claiming that building needed to be closed for safety reasons. That was false: The government’s own engineers explicitly did not recommend closing the building. The old Science Centre now sits empty while the institution is reduced to a husk, another casualty of the Premier’s waterpark dreams.
>
>Back at Ontario Place, the province demolished all 14 acres of the West Island last fall, spending $40-million to hurry the work, cutting down 800 trees and razing what had become a well-used public park.
>
>All this was possible because of the government’s Rebuilding Ontario Place Act. It applies to the province and its partners, including Therme, and aims to exempt their work from environmental, planning and heritage rules, as well as civil and criminal liability.
Any politician that pushes policies that are exempt from oversight and regulation, whether it’s planning or environmental or social or cultural, should be questioned deeply about the reasons for these exemptions and what the consequences might be. Trite answers such as “the economy” or the like isn’t really sufficient in its vagueness. It will be interesting to see how the court rules, and whether the province will look to ignore that ruling as well, if things go against their will.
By my count, this will be the 4th law passed by the Ford government to go before the Supreme Court. So far, his government has won 2 and lost 1.