Civil liberties groups say Bill 100, which gives the provincial government expanded powers to prevent protests from blocking critical infrastructure, is too broad in its aims and could be used to stifle peaceful protests..“It’s not right for governments to just create new,.superfluous laws as a political response to a protest. It just creates additional power for the government to prevent future lawful protests,” said.Joseph Hickey, co-founder and volunteer Executive Director of the Ontario Civil Liberties Association..Bill 100, also known as the Keeping Ontario Open for Business Act, 2022 , passed on April 14 after its third reading in the Ontario legislature..Rick Nicholls, the MPP for Chatham-Kent-Leamington with the Ontario Party, was the only member to vote against the bill..The bill establishes prohibitions and enforcement mechanisms to prohibit people from “impeding access to, egress from or ordinary use of protected transportation infrastructure,” such as airports or Canada- U.S. border crossings..Under the bill, $96-million will be allocated to improve training at the Ontario Provincial Police College, as well as to buy tow trucks to remove vehicles. Police officers are also given the power to suspend driver’s licenses and vehicle permits and to seize license plates..Bill 100 was created in the aftermath of the Freedom Convoy protests of early 2022, which led to the Canada-U.S. border crossing at Windsor being blocked by protestors and the loss of billions of dollars in trade..Hickey said he is “very troubled,” by the passage of Bill 100. He said the legislative tools.to deal with traffic impeding economic activity already existed, such as Ontario’s.Highway Traffic Act and the Criminal Code’s offence of mischief. .Bill 100 is also an “overtly political” response to the Freedom Convoy protests, according to Hickey, who added that the timing of the bill coincides with the upcoming Ontario election. “It’s not at all the type of restrained and very thoughtful legislation that would be required to protect Canadians’ Charter Rights..Cara Faith Zwibel, the Director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s Fundamental Freedoms Program, said there is a “real question” about the necessity of Bill 100. She agreed that there are already laws in place that deal with the removal of traffic from critical infrastructure..“It also basically leaves a lot in the hands of police in terms of how they exercise their discretion. And unfortunately, we know that sometimes police exercise their discretion in a way that is not equitable and impacts some people more than others,” she said..Faith Zwibel also has concerns with how broad the law is, as the bill’s definition of “protected transportation infrastructure” can be expanded to include any other infrastructure “.that is of significance to international trade.”.Faith Zwibel pointed out that under Bill 100, peaceful protests such as the rail blockades near.the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, climate activists at Toronto Pearson airport last fall, and.Black Lives Matter Toronto’s delegation to the Canada-U.S. border in early 2018 could have all been shut down..Derek Sloan, a former Conservative MP for Hastings—Lennox and Addington, Ontario and leader of the newly-formed Ontario Party, said he believes the bill is “unnecessary.” Sloan said the blockade at the Ambassador Bridge was disbanded before the federal and provincial governments implemented their “draconian” emergency powers..“I believe all the tools to deal with any kind of ‘insurrection’ are already there,” he said..Matthew Horwood is the Parliamentary Bureau Chief of the Western Standard.mhorwood@westernstandard.news.Twitter.com/@Matt_HorwoodWS
