Law Times

Page 6 April 10, 2017 • lAw Times www.lawtimesnews.com COMMENT u EDITORIAL OBITER By Gabrielle Giroday The last resort Law Times reports the Fair Change Community Services Legal Clinic is looking to launch a constitutional challenge to the provin- cial Safe Streets Act, which bans aggressive panhandling. The move comes after the clinic said it scored a victory in 2016 after fighting tickets and fines that homeless people had incurred under the act. Lawyers say the act criminalizes people who are impoverished and that tickets issued under the act waste valuable time and resources in provincial courts, increasing delays. So, then, the potential constitutional challenge by the clinic may be good news for some. The impact from R. v. Jordan is still rippling out across Canada, and the public consciousness about court delays is higher than it was in 1999, when the act was passed. "There's been a lot of talk about the courts being overcrowded and not enough judges or facilities and so on, and yet they spend thou- sands and thousands of dollars and hours of court time oppressing poor people by tickets under the Safe Streets Act," says Peter Rosen- thal, the lawyer who will be acting for the clinic. Rosenthal has pointed to differing interpretations of s. 15 of the Charter and the shifting of the legal landscape since the last challenge took place. However, it will still be an uphill climb. In R. v. Banks, 2007 ONCA 19, three Ontario Court of Appeal judges concluded: "The impugned provisions did not violate the ap- pellants' rights under s. 15(1) of the Charter." Populist pressure grows as Liberals sink lower BY IAN HARVEY D esperate times call for desper- ate measures. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne's personal approval rating has sunk to nine per cent from 12 per cent in just a week while the party's popularity is also sinking. So, the shift to survival mode is on and this is a government in search of populism and lo, the perfect issue has presented itself: housing. Recently, Wynne called the doubling of rent to more than $3,000 in two west- end condominium units "egregious" and hinted that the government might extend rent control to those units con- structed after 1991. Not so coinciden- tally, two weeks earlier, NDP MPP Peter Tabuns (Toronto-Danforth) introduced Bill 106 for first reading as a private member's bill to amend the Residential Tenancies Act 2006 and do precisely that. How convenient. Hot on the other end of the market, Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa is also aiming to plant the banner on the issue of home ownership and affordabil- ity. He's musing about a tax on real estate speculators to cool the Toronto market. At least one aspect would follow Brit- ish Columbia's 15-per-cent tax on prop- erty bought by foreign nationals that has become a wedge issue in that province's May 9 gen- eral election where Premier Christy Clark's Liberals are also at the brink in the polls. She's been touting the tax as effectively slowing the market, but there's not much evidence other than a small boost in the polls on a repeated pledge to keep home ownership af- fordable for the middle class. It's the same demographic the Ontario Liberals want to reach and win, so it's no surprise Sousa is looking down the same road. In B.C., high-end home sales have cooled and foreign nationals now ac- count for about four per cent of buyers, down from 13.2 per cent last June. How- ever, overall sales haven't dropped and condo prices are still rising. The issue has everyone's attention. Last year, the federal government tried to cool the market by changing the rules for down payments, but, as RBC noted in a report last month, "demand has continued to grow, supply has dwindled further and prices are still going through the roof." In fact, buying and maintaining a sin- gle-family home in Toronto takes a big- ger slice of household income today than it did the last time these ratios were repeated, back in 1990 — a phenomenon that preceded a market crash, RBC notes. The real estate market, of course, is driven by a core of factors: listings, buyer demand and prevailing interest rates. In Ontario, especially Toronto, there isn't enough supply, and with low interest rates, there's strong demand. Consequently, prices have risen on a hockey stick trajectory since 2012. They are further projected to rise 25 per cent in the next year following a 35-per- cent year-over-year gain last year, outpac- ing the rate at which prospective buyers can save a down payment. Sousa says the government is looking at a "suite of options," but, in reality, it's limited. He can bring in a foreign buyer tax, but there's little evidence it will have any impact since the Toronto Real Estate Board says only five per cent of buyers fall into that category. Given B.C.'s expe- rience, it's no magic wand. Putting the tax stick aside, Sousa's carrot option is to stimulate supply of new homes, but since municipalities control zoning, densities and permits, it's hard to see how he might do that and how it might impact before next June's general election. Similarly, he has no control over in- terest rates, while opening up greenbelt land to development is off the table and his plea to the federal government for a hike of capital gains on non-principal residences didn't get any action in Ot- tawa's budget last month. The only small levers he can pull are to institute a tax if a property is f lipped within a specific time to deter specula- tors or to tax vacant homes, as Toronto Mayor John Tory has suggested the city might do. However, the latter is easily circumvented with "professional occu- pants" to create an illusion of habitation to meet a qualifying period. Still, let's be brutally honest here. None of these measures has to be effec- tive to meet the Liberals' needs. Politics is optics and being seen to be doing something is more important than actu- ally doing something that works. And, at this stage of the game, this government is willing to try anything to turn those polls around even if it's just a game of charades. LT uIan Harvey has been a journalist for more than 40 years writing about a di- verse range of issues including legal and political affairs. His email address is ianharvey@rogers.com. Rosenthal has said there has been a push for a meeting with Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naq- vi. In this case, with changing attitudes to mental health and increased sensitivity to court delays, courts may be a last resort, if legislative change can be achieved. LT ©2017 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. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Law Times disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reli- ance upon information in this publication. Publications Mail Agreement Number 40762529 • ISSN 0847-5083 Law Times is published 40 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. LT.editor@thomsonreuters.com CIRCULATIONS & SUBSCRIPTIONS $205.00 + HST per year in Canada for print and online (HST Reg. #R121351134), $199 + HST per year for online only. Single copies are $5.00. Circulation inquiries, postal returns and address changes should include a copy of the mailing label(s) and should be sent to Law Times One Corporate Plaza, 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto ON, M1T 3V4. Return postage guaranteed. Contact Keith Fulford at .............. 416-649-9585 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . or fax: 416-649-7870 keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com SALES AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Advertising inquiries and materials should be directed to Sales, Law Times, 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto, ON, M1T 3V4 or call: Business Development Consultant: Ivan Ivanovitch ...................................416-887-4300 ivan.ivanovitch@tr.com Client Development Manager: Grace So .............................................416-903-4473 grace.so@tr.com Account Manager: Kimberlee Pascoe ...............................416-996-1739 kimberlee.pascoe@tr.com Account Executive: Steffanie Munroe ................................416-315-5879 steffanie.munroe@tr.com Law Times Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd., One Corporate Plaza, 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto, ON • M1T 3V4 • Tel: 416-298-5141 • Fax: 416-649-7870 www.lawtimesnews.com LT.editor@thomsonreuters.com • @lawtimes Director/Group Publisher . . . . . . . . . Karen Lorimer Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Brown Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gabrielle Giroday Staff Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alex Robinson Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patricia Cancilla CaseLaw Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leah Craven Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phyllis Barone Production Co-ordinator . . . . . . . . .Catherine Giles Electronic Production Specialist . . . Derek Welford Queen's Park Ian Harvey

• Cover