Law Times

Page 6 JaNUaRY 7, 2019 • LaW TIMeS www.lawtimesnews.com Disruption causes pushback BY IAN HARVEY T he first six months of the new government at Queen's Park has been disruptive by design with at least one change tabled weekly. And there are more changes to come, right up to the spring budget where you can expect some more controversial an- nouncements if it follows the established pattern. Take bill 66, Restoring Ontario's Competitiveness Act. It's an omnibus ostensibly designed to cut red tape. In all, there are 12 schedules address- ing a variety of pieces of legislation, from the Agricultural Employees Protection Act, to the Pawnbrokers Act, to the Labour Relation Act, 1995 and more. Reaction has been virulent. For example, Schedule 10 of the 12 Schedules within Bill 66 amends the Planning Act, adding a new section, 34.1 to allow municipalities to pass open-for- business planning by-laws if the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing agrees. Opponents say Schedule 10 will al- low the greenbelt — that band of open, undeveloped land woven in and around the urban areas of the GTA — to be paved over willy-nilly and risk municipal water sources being poisoned, setting the stage for a multitude of Walkerton tragedies. The amendments in Schedule 10 also excludes sections in nine other acts from applying to an open- for-business bylaw, notably, s. 39 of the Clean Water Act, 2006, s. 20 of the Great Lakes Protection Act, 2015, s. 7 of the Greenbelt Act, 2005 s. 6 of the Lake Simcoe Protec- tion Act, 2008 and s. 7 of the Oak Ridges Moraine Con- servation Act, 2001. There has been angry pushback by environmental groups and others who accuse Premier Doug Ford of breaking a promise not to touch the greenbelt. That pledge came after a cell phone video leaked of him saying he'd free up space for development in the greenbelt if he won the leadership and was subse- quently elected. Richard Lyall, president of the Resi- dential Construction Council of On- tario winces at the memory of the in- famous video. Ford's comments in the video were "an unfortunate phraseol- ogy" he says, adding that in context, what Ford was talking about was ways to increase the housing supply by freeing up land. As it stands the GTA is about 11,000 units a year short of meeting demand and that contributes to high prices, he says, adding that cutting red tape is a must. While any future devel- opments at the edge of the greenbelt would not likely be for affordable housing, he ar- gues, it takes the pressure off land in other areas where af- fordable housing makes more sense. "We've had a generation of failed housing policies," he says. "This govern- ment is trying to deal with that and isn't afraid to taken on some of these sacred cows but no one is talking about big bold moves on the greenbelt." Tim Gray, executive director of Envi- ronmental Defence, an environmental activist lobby group, isn't so generous in his assessment. He says bill 66 risks fac- tories and urban sprawl encroaching on not just the greenbelt but other agricul- tural land, forests and water sheds. "There's more than enough land within municipalities already," he says, adding that it's better to intensify devel- opment on existing sites to better utilize transit than adding to the sprawl and forcing more people into cars. "The open-for-business bylaw (on the municipal part) would sidestep public notice and fast track projects to the prov- ince which then gets to decide if they are approved and then fast tracked again with no appeal," he adds. He's not buying the argument it would free up land for housing, saying it might conversely drive up land costs. Certainly, it can be argued that while the promises of cutting red tape in bill 66 sound grand, they fail to adequately detail why all "30 actions to reduce the burden on job creators," as claimed by the government in tabling the bill, are required and how they will work. That too, however, is becoming a Ford government hallmark, a bull-in- the-china-shop approach with little or no communication. uIan Harvey has been a journalist for more than 41 years, writing about a diverse range of issues including legal and political affairs. His email address is ianharvey@rogers.com. COMMENT u EDITORIAL OBITER By Gabrielle Giroday ©2019 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or stored in a retrieval system without written per- mission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. 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Karen Lorimer Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Brown Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gabrielle Giroday Staff Writer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anita Balakrishnan Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patricia Cancilla CaseLaw Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Laura Crawford Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phyllis Barone Production Co-ordinator . . . . . . . . . . Jacqueline D'Souza Electronic Production Specialist . . . . . . . . Derek Welford The Dale Smith A Criminal Mind Matthew Family L aw Marta Siemiarczuk The Lawyer T herapist Doron That's History Philip Matthew Matthew Marta Matthew Marta Marta Marta Marta Doron Doron Doron Doron Doron Welcome 2019 I f 2018 was an eventful year in legal developments, then 2019 is shaping up to move even more quickly. This edition of Law Times covers a wide range of stories that in- dicate some of the trends that may dominate in the year ahead. The disruptive effects of technology are top of mind for many lawyers, affecting everything from court processes to the labour market, as is evidenced in our story about a ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal that an arbitration clause used by Uber in a delivery driver's contract is unenforceable. "I think it sends a clear message to companies, especially those companies that come from other jurisdictions, that if they are go- ing to operate in here — in Ontario — they have to abide by Ontario laws," says Lior Samfiru, a lawyer involved in the case. Also top of mind are cases of importance in the year ahead, like two upcoming sexual assault cases at the Supreme Court of Canada, which focus on the threshold a defendant in these cases must meet for evidence about a complainant's sexual history to be admissible at trial. "It could clear up a lot of litigation on these issues," says Mike Kruse, a criminal defence lawyer. Then there are the developments in the field of insurance law that are explored in this issue, such as a recent ruling in Fehr v. Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, 2018 ONCA 718, which could affect the wording of some consumer-facing policies, according to lawyer Jeffrey Leon. He says it's just one of a series of rulings that demonstrates a "consumer-focused approach." "The Court of Appeal's reasons reflect the con- sideration given to the differences between the companies who draft these complicated agree- ments, and the consumers who are bound by them," says Leon. Expect to see more rulings in 2019 with this slant, in my opinion. An eventful year awaits, with more developments to come. LT Queen's Park Ian Harvey

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