Doug Ford tells heckler to ‘find a job’ as protest erupts over Ontario law critics say will speed up evictions

The Ontario government has passed a controversial omnibus bill that critics say will make it easier for landlords to evict tenants from their homes.

Bill 60, also known as the “Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act,” passed third reading 71-43 at Queen’s Park Monday following a fast-tracked process with limited debate.

The voting took place amid loud chanting of “people over profit” and “shame” from the public gallery. Following the vote, the speaker ordered the gallery to be cleared as those being ushered away yelled “you’re putting people on the streets.”

‘Go find a job’

As one of the protesters was being ejected from the chamber, Premier Doug Ford yelled up from the floor of the house “go find a job, buddy.”

Speaking with CP24 outside the legislature, Hamilton ACORN Co-chair Marc Davignon said he was not initially aware of the premier’s comment as he was being asked to leave.

“Doug Ford hasn’t had to go looking for a job in a while. He has no clue the difficulties that people are facing,” Davignon said. “And if I had had his family’s connections, I probably wouldn’t have had to look for one either.”

He said the bill doesn’t distinguish between good and bad tenants.

“Unfortunately there are bad tenants, but there are also bad landlords. In the balance of things, it is always easier to throw out someone who is innocent than it is to throw out someone who is guilty,” he said, adding that the bill targets vulnerable people who simply need a bit of grace to stay in their homes.

The bill bars tenants from raising new issues at Landlord and Tenant Board hearings and scraps the need for a landlord to offer a tenant compensation if they would like to take their property back for their own use, as long as they give 120 days notice. It also shortens the waiting period to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent.

The province says the changes are meant to speed up proceedings at the Landlord and Tenant Board. Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack defended the government’s housing strategy at Queen’s Park Monday, saying “not one protection is being altered in this bill” and that it will help give landlords “the confidence needed to rent out their buildings” so that rents come down.

But critics say the bill will speed up eviction hearings and make it harder for tenants to defend themselves against bad faith evictions while doing nothing to speed up tenant complaints against landlords.

“I call it the ‘create encampments faster act’ because that is precisely what it is and what it will do — force Ontarians out onto the street through no fault of their own,” housing advocate Diana Chan McNally said at a recent news conference at Queen’s Park.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles introduced an opposition motion to immediately repeal the bill Thursday.

“Ontario is facing a jobs disaster, but Doug Ford is more focused on attacking renters and making housing even more expensive,” Stiles said.

University–Rosedale MPP Jessica Bell said the government is responsible for the backlog at the Landlord and Tenant Board to begin with.

“The significant delays at the Landlord and Tenant Board are entirely caused by the Progressive Conservative government,” Bell said. “They have refused to properly fund the Landlord and Tenant Board. They refused to hire enough competent and impartial adjudicators.”

Thousands of tenants took part in a march through downtown Toronto over the weekend to protest the bill.

The government announced Bill 60 just a few weeks ago, originally including a proposal to hold consultations on changing security of tenure, the law that allows tenants to stay in their homes as long as they keep to the rental agreement and Residential Tenancies Act.

Attorney General Doug Downey said at the time that the government heard from stakeholders that “evergreen leases” were not appropriate and they would explore the idea of making it easier for landlords to end leases for commercial reasons.

Following an outcry, the government said it would remove the part of the bill proposing the consultations on changing security of tenure. However, the bill still strengthens the hand of landlords in disputes with tenants.

Landlord groups welcome move

Speaking with CP24, Kayla Andrade said small landlords are pleased to see the bill pass.

Andrade, founder of residential landlord advocacy group Ontario Landlords Watch, said her group had been calling for the changes for some time, looking to protect small landlords from problem tenants.

“Bill 60 means our government is starting to listen to the small landlords of Ontario,” Andrade said.

In a statement, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) also welcomed the passage of Bill 60, saying it will “strengthen” the rental housing system.

“Bill 60 will speed up hearings, improve procedures for rent arrears, streamline adjudication processes, and place greater emphasis on reducing systemic delays at the LTB,” TRREB President Elechia Barry-Sproule said in the statement.

The bill still needs royal assent to officially become law.

Bill scraps Toronto green roof policy, makes other changes

The massive bill also scraps a Toronto bylaw requiring builders to install green roofs on new buildings to reduce their impact on the environment. The government says the move will make new buildings more affordable, but Ontario Green party Schreiner said Monday it will leave Toronto more vulnerable to billions of dollars in damage from flooding going forward.

Bill 60 also transfers jurisdiction of water and wastewater services from Peel Regional Council to Mississauga, Brampton, and Caledon through a new public corporation model for delivering water and wastewater services; and bars municipalities from reducing vehicle lanes in order to install new bicycle lanes.

Other features of the bill include:

• Extending Waterfront Toronto’s mandate from 2028 to 2035, with a possible extension to 2040.
• Streamlining approvals and site plan control for municipalities
• Calling for “a section-by-section review of the Ontario Building Code” in order to reduce regulations and speed up building
• Changes to limit foreign driving experience that counts toward obtaining an Ontario driver’s license