I've reviewed Bill 195, "The Reopening Ontario Act", and there are some serious issues. Logically, emergency orders should only be available during an emergency. The Bill extends a number of these orders while simultaneously declaring the emergency over.

Orders allowing the sharing of personal health information and which allow for police to demand identification (carding) are also extended, but cannot be amended. These orders no longer need to be renewed every 14 days, and could remain in place up until June 2022.

Meanwhile, onerous restrictions on the size of gatherings, that keep businesses closed, and which override collective agreements for the redeployment of workers are all extended and can even be amended.

While under a declared state of emergency, these limits to our Charter protected rights of mobility, privacy, free association and free assembly are likely justified under the balancing test set out in section 1 of the Charter.

But once the government announces that that state of emergency has ended, so too does the justification for limiting our rights.

I can't see how this legislation will remain in place unchallenged. It implicates too many of our most fundamental rights. And it implicates in particular collective bargaining rights.

Unions are a powerful force in this province, and I can't imagine they're very happy about this legislation.

When civil libertarians and unions are both objecting to the same bill, the government should know there is a storm coming.

And here we go: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ontario-health-care-workers-planning-series-of-political-legal/?utm_medium=Referrer:+Social+Network+/+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links