PCs take legislative action to ban commercial evictions
Emergency rent assistance program was poorly received with few landlords enlisting
Ontario is banning commercial evictions to stop landlords from throwing small business owners onto the street during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Premier Doug Ford, who has blasted “greedy landlords” for shunning federal-provincial subsidies designed to help commercial tenants, said the Progressive Conservative government had no choice but to take legislative action Wednesday. “We had to do what we had to do and I don’t regret it,” said Ford, noting he repeatedly appealed to property owners to enlist in the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program that is worth $900 million in Ontario.
“I was begging trying ... to get the landlords and the tenants to work together. I kept telling the landlords ... please ... work with them. And a lot of them didn’t want to work with them,” he said.
Under the CECRA initiative, which has been poorly received with relatively few enlistees, Queen’s Park and Ottawa pay 50 per cent of commercial rent, with the landlord and tenant each forking over 25 per cent for April, May, and June.
Ontario’s eviction ban will be in effect from May 1 until Aug. 31.
Last week, Ford had suggested it might only be retroactive until June 3, but the Liberals and the Greens negotiated an extended reprieve.
Liberal MPP John Fraser (Ottawa South) said the extension is better than nothing.
“The reality with this bill is, it’s two months too late. We should have been debating this in April,” said Fraser.
Green Leader Mike Schreiner said he backed the bill because he doesn’t “want perfect to be the enemy of the good.”
“I’ve heard over and over again from small businesses in my riding and from small businesses across the province that we need a ban on commercial evictions,” said Schreiner.
“Finally the government’s wait-and-see response has led us to a crisis situation where we need legislation right now.” Government House Leader Paul Calandra praised the Liberals and Greens for supporting the move, but expressed dismay at the New Democrats for procedural wrangling.
“We are pleased to have the support of the Liberal caucus and the leader of the Green party, who have made important contributions to the development of this legislation,” said Calandra.
“While the NDP opted to walk away from negotiations, we are hopeful that after review and consideration, they will support the expedited passage of this legislation,” he said earlier Wednesday. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the bill was “not good enough” and should have been retroactive to March, when the pandemic began.
Horwath also expressed concern that the Ontario legislation only targets landlords who do not apply the federal-provincial CECRA program, potentially meaning some “small businesses are not going to get this.”
“We’ve done everything we can to push back against the deal the Liberals, the Greens and the Conservatives have put together,” she said.
Also Wednesday, the Tories used their majority to ram through controversial antitrespassing legislation for farms that civil libertarians and animal-rights activists charge is an “ag-gag” bill designed to silence whistle-blowers.
The Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act, which passed 68-22, was touted by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture for ensuring farmers can keep intruders off their property.
But the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Association of Journalists, Animal Justice and PETA, among others, denounced it.
They warn it could stifle investigative journalism and deter anyone wanting to expose wrongdoing by criminalizing hidden-camera videos of animal cruelty.