Regional councillors among dozens opposed to use of notwithstanding clause to clear encampments

Opposition to a letter from some Ontario mayors, calling for the province to allow municipalities to request the use of the Notwithstanding Clause to clear homeless encampments, is growing.

A group of town, city, regional and municipal councillors have penned a letter to the premier, calling for the clause to be removed as an option. They would rather see the province increase funding for things like shelters, mental health and addiction services.

Five local politicians are among those who signed the letter. They include: Regional Councillors for Kitchener and Cambridge, Rob Deutschmann and Pam Wolf; City of Cambridge councillors Ross Earnshaw and Scott Hamilton; and Guelph Ward 1 Councillor, Erin Caton.

Deutschmann spoke to The Mike Farwell Show and said recent comments from Premier Doug Ford, regarding the use of the notwithstanding clause was “appalling.”

“He was almost ‘egging’ or ‘goading on’ the mayors to write to him to say they want to use the notwithstanding clause. And, it was clear to me that the premier was not considering the implications of that request.”

The Coalition of Ontario Big City Mayors had rejected the potential use of the clause but it was a small group among them that urged the premier to allow for it.

Deutschmann said he believes municipalities know best what their communities need, so they should be provided proper funding to invest those dollars in areas that need it most. He said right now, they’re on their own.

“Municipally, we’re doing all we can. We only have so much money to deal with it. The province is basically downloading this issue onto us. And, when the province says they are keeping your taxes low, no they aren’t,” he said. “Look at your property tax bill. A lot of the increase to your property tax bill is because of the hundreds of millions of dollars we’re spending on provincial initiatives.”

Deutschmann plans to table a motion to regional council this week saying that the use of the clause is an overreach and that the region will not use it. It will also call on the province to sit down and come up with a plan to properly fund homelessness, mental health and addiction services.

The motion will have to be differed out of respect for the Chair (Karen Redman), who has requested a legal opinion to see what the implication would be if the region votes on the motion.

Deutchmann said we’ll have to wait and see what the results of the opinion show and where the Region can go from there.