Ontario Green Party leader Mike Schreiner is currently touring the province and meeting with people regarding concerns about Bill 5.
Schreiner was invited to Stratford to tour the city and meet residents alongside Mayor Martin Ritsma on July 15.
He's hoping that protests and opposition to Bill 5 will lead the Ford government to backtrack on it, as it has in the past with other unpopular legislation.
"We want to see more economic development, we want to see more trade diversification. We all voted unanimously at Queen's Park to get rid of inter-provincial trade barriers. But none of us want to see Indigenous rights, environmental protections, labour laws, and basic democratic oversight overturned," Schreiner stated.
Schreiner points out that the bill contains a number of concerning things that would weaken environmental regulations, override treaty rights, and fast-track development projects.
The bill has received heavy criticism from Indigenous and environmental groups and Schreiner says that is why the fight must continue to have the bill killed. Bill 5 has potential powers in the legislation to ignore the Endangered Species Act and ignore treaty rights of Indigenous groups, particularly regarding the northern region's Ring of Fire mineral development.
Additionally, Schreiner notes that the bill could allow the provincial government to create "special economic zones" where land could be designated for essentially any purpose without any need for environmental assessments or other land use studies, all in the name of economic development. Schreiner adds that there are serious concerns about the bill, chief among them that it "undermines democratic processes by bypassing public consultation and limiting oversight."
"I think the biggest concern is the 'Special Economic Zones' which you see in countries like, well the first one was in China, and then places like Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, a lot of countries that are led by authoritarian dictators, not democratically elected governments, and it's because they're essentially lawless zones," Schreiner emphasized. "And the legislature can't say anything about it because we've stripped democratic oversight around these zones. On top of that, it'll invite damage and exploitation and kind of open the door to the same corruption we saw with the $8.3 billion Greenbelt scandal. Those are the things that are concerning people."
You can read more about Bill 5, known as the "Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act" here on the official Legislative Assembly of Ontario website: https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-44/session-1/bill-5.
Schreiner is also focused during his Leader's Tour on promoting more agricultural growth in the province. Part of that is championing his private member's bill with Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Bobbi Ann Brady (Independant) to promote a "food belt" as Schreiner calls it. He says the bill is intended to protect prime farm land in Ontario.
"And that's because it's such an important contributor to our economy. One in 10 Ontarians work in the food and farming sector and I know it's an important economic driver for this region and the province as a whole, with an over $2 billion contribution to the provincial economy," said Schreiner.
With regards to increasing Ontario's economic power with respect to agriculture, Schreiner says he wants to see the province increase its capacity in agricultural manufacturing, food production, and processing.
He says one big factor in that to look at taking advantage of is the fact that the GTA is, according to Schreiner, the fourth largest food manufacturing hub in North America. Schreiner feels there's no reason we can't increase and enhance that and look at ways to help farmers create on-farm opportunities to increase production capacity on-site, with a more supportive financial environment to make that possible.
"Here we have a sector of our economy that contributes over $50 billion to that economy, and is experiencing threats from Trump's tariffs, but also has huge opportunities for us to increase local food production and consumption, to help us tariff-proof Ontario, but also creates a lot of export opportunities," Schreiner pointed out.
Processing capacity, in Schreiner's opinion, is one of, if not the biggest, challenges that face agricultural business in this province.
"So, for instance, beef farmers, they lost close to a million dollars over three days because of the tariffs the U.S. had, because they have to ship live animals across the border because there isn't enough processing capacity here. I talk to fruit and vegetable growers here that are looking for more processing capacity to add more value to their products. So I'd says it's a huge issue," Schreiner shared.
Finally, Schreiner commented on the housing crisis, which continues to be a hotly debated and discussed issue all over the country. He says it's the number one factor driving the affordability crisis, and he blames Doug Ford for not doing more to help.
"I'm sick and tired of having a premier who says 'no' to all the solutions. He says no to legalizing four-plexes and four-storey as of right, one of the key recommendations of his own housing task force. He says 'no' to legalizing six-11 storey buildings along major transit and transportation corridors in major cities," Schreiner said dismissively. "He says 'no' to having government get back to helping fund non-profit and co-op and deeply affordable housing. Ninety-three per cent of the deeply affordable homes in Ontario were built before 1995. That's when the province stopped providing government-supported funding to co-ops and non-profits."
Also, Schreiner is frustrated that more protections against wild rent increases aren't being put in place, especially against foreign companies that own properties here.
"We're in a situation right now where there isn't a single city in Ontario where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford average monthly rent. So we need a premier that's actually gonna start saying 'yes' to building homes that people can afford, in the communities they know and love, where we build them without paving over our farmland, and we build them where we've already got the infrastructure built," Schreiner concluded.
Schreiner maintains that's the "fastest and cheapest way" to help solve the housing and ultimately the affordability crisis in Ontario.
While in Stratford, Schreiner also had plans to attend a Stratford Bill 5 Barnstorm & Barbecue Event at the Falstaff Family Centre.