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A law to break the law

November 14, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

Imagine this: a family sitting down to a meal in their home on a farm, that the family has owned for generations. There is an authoritative knock on the front door of the house. One of the older children gets up to answer it.

Two people are standing outside and they push their way in. Naturally, the father leaves the table to confront the intruders, saying, “Who are you, entering my house like this? What do you want?”

Maybe, they show him a piece of paper; maybe, they insist he was sent a notice of their impending visit; maybe they just inform him there and then: that his home and property are to be expropriated as part of the land to host the new highway 413. Maybe, they will note in the advance notice he may or may not have received, that any inclination on his part to resist their inspection of his actual home and surrounding land will incur a fine of $50,000, with a subsequent fine of $10,000 per day that the original fine is not paid and, should a second show of resistance be offered, that will incur another fine of $100,000.

Where oh where, would such an exaggerated outrage ever happen? 

How about, right here in Canada, in Ontario, in our own provincial parliament with Bill 212, due to pass at Queen’s Park on Nov. 25.

The affront of “legal” entry into a private residence to inspect the property for a proposed highway, while resistance to the invasion comes with a truly outrageous system of fines defies overstating.

If it was your house….?

Take heed, this is not a joke, not a rumour, not an exaggeration: it is the very truth in Section 12.4 of Bill 212 – Building Highways Faster Act, currently about to be passed in the House at Queens Park by the provincial Conservative government.

Section 13.9 authorizes “the use of force to take position of land.”

Hard to imagine what that really means. Police? Maybe the army? Rushing in, guns in hands, ducking behind bushes and buildings to spy on the owners. The passionate family youth ready to throw themselves in front of the assailants – one of whom is a cousin…

Where are we, did you say?

Like strange Tarantino-esque monsters, our leaders keep insisting on forming projects that will do the most harm to us and to the planet. The delusion of a much-needed highway to blast across sections of southern Ontario, including – yet again – the Greenbelt! Really destroying it this time with a highway designed to cross the Gore Road and the Airport Road, to crush the headwaters of the four waterways that supply water between here and Toronto and thereby threatening water quality, that will finish off endangered species living in those waters and that widens in theoretical increasing numbers of lanes as time goes by, but is shown not to be an asset of any kind, will not reduce gridlock, will not provide better flow of traffic. Alternatives are being presented over and over that are much easier, cleaner.

But: as a corridor, the 413 would open up what is left of the Greenbelt to development, to warehouses and industry and environmental ruin locally and wherever this highway runs.

Once again, we have to face off with Doug Ford as we did last spring to defend our Greenbelt against the plans for his developer cronies to build millionaire homes across the region. Now, we will gather in rallies, declaring our determined objection once more to his devilment, finding him corrupt of integrity, good sense and reason. We speculate about his reasons, knowing full well that the supposed purpose of the 413 is not about benefitting people driving anywhere.

What is happening in this 21st Century, that what is the worst of us, is what rules us? That so many elders are still ruling the planet in their crotchety old ways that should have been washed out by the many privileges the 20th Century provided. Where is it written that only bad management, poor politics, corruption and, even now, disdain not compassion, still dictate how we treat the poor and disabled among us? As our hearts and minds and just common sense clearly say, for a healthy society, we need to care for everyone.

It is medievalism to believe in a system of very rich and very poor, a human landscape that has never worked because, truth is, if a section of society is wretched, broken and starved, that rot will always lead to harming the whole.

Likewise, destroying our own nest will leave us all wretched, broken and starving once the true ruin begins. We have choices to do better but will we?

COP 29 is now in session in Azerbaijan – a great choice of place to discuss cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions. The UK has claimed it will reduce its emissions by 81 per cent by 2035. Many say that can not be done; others disagree, hailing the ambition as the right one. The point is this is possible – the technology exists already – only the greed of oil and gas companies and the lack of political will worldwide, are now being admonished and taught by Britain.

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