As the Ford government rushes to wrap up its legislative agenda before the summer — and controversy swirls around some of its proposed bills — it is moving to skip debate and fast-track a number of plans.
The government plans to skip debate and committee hearings on a total of four proposed laws, including the budget and an omnibus justice law that could give more guns to special constables.
House Leader Steve Clark tabled a motion to fast-track the legislation with only a few days of sittings left and the government on the defensive over its mining legislation, which is currently facing a wave of criticism during its committee hearings.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles suggested the decision to fast-track some legislation is to avoid similar pushback during other committee hearings.
“After a massive public backlash to his power-grabbing Bill 5, Doug Ford is canceling public hearings altogether on four more government bills,” she said in a statement.
“His controversial bill to bring in US-style politicized courts and his massive new budget bill will not see the committee floor, and debate will be cut back to no more than an hour. What is he trying to hide?”
The bills that will skip committee hearings are two health-care plans, the budget and an omnibus justice bill.
The latter piece of legislation included a section buried in the middle of the bill that will allow solicitor general Michael Kerzner to select more groups of special constables who can carry guns.
Right now, only a select few special constables — mainly working for the Niagara Parks Commission — have the right to carry guns. Others carry pepper spray and batons.
Despite the new power, Kerzner has refused to say which special constables could be given guns. The premier’s office recently told Global News it was considering giving “long guns” to special constables with Niagara Parks.
While the solicitor general refused to say which special constables would get guns, he promised lengthy consultations.
“We’re going to continue to engage our stakeholders, we’re going to continue to study the matter further,” Kerzner told Global News on Monday.
The next day, the government confirmed its plan to skip committee hearings for the proposed.
A spokesperson for the premier’s office said bypassing the committee and debate is not unusual.
“This is a standard process of parliamentary procedure — it is also important to note that further changes to Bills come from regulations that will occur at a later date,” they said in a statement.
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said the move lacked transparency.
“This is another hallmark of this government wanting to skip consultation,” she said. “This is a government that doesn’t like to be held accountable. They’re not transparent. They don’t want to be held accountable.”
Crombie said the Liberals would sit through the summer if necessary to improve legislation.