The threat of Trump tariffs and The Donald’s continuing challenges to our nation’s sovereignty have created a political environment where economic development, especially in the realm of the exploitation of natural resources, is ascendant on the agenda of both the federal and provincial governments.
Unfortunately, government responses to the situation has been to take the opportunity to pass legislation that threatens to undo decades of progress in both environmental protections and reconciliation with Indigenous stakeholders.
Opponents of Bill 5, the Ford government’s “Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025” (the name of the bill is reminiscent of how George Orwell styled government edicts in his dystopian novel ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’) claim that it will run roughshod over the environment and Indigenous interests in the coming years as the Ford government attempts to fast-track mining and other development to the detriment—and possibly illegal infringement—on both.
Given the Greenbelt record of Premier Doug Ford, those concerns are not to be taken lightly.
Premier Ford took full advantage of the disarray of his political opponents in the aftermath of the threats from The Donald earlier this year to win a landslide majority victory in a snap early election. A sudden populist-based mandate that opened the doors to what environmentalists and Indigenous activists fear will be unfettered and unbridled abuse of both the environment and treaty rights.
Bill 5 amends a host of other legislations that stand in the way of rapid development of resources, regardless of how sensitive the locale or whose traditional territory the resources happen to be on.
The wide-open way Bill 5 is written would allow cabinet to hand out exemptions from any law; that is to say labour, environmental or operational.
Premier Ford says that he just wants to “speed up the process” going on to point out how long it takes to get a mine into production. (It currently takes about four to five years; Bill 5 aims to shorten that process to two years and is aimed squarely at the Ring of Fire potential located 500 miles north of Thunder Bay.)
The last few times provincial and federal governments attempted to ride roughshod over Indigenous interests all heck broke loose. Highways were blockaded, rail traffic halted, and, in the case of Dudley George, people died.
Given the near-universal condemnation of Bill 5 by Indigenous leaders across the nation, there is little reason to doubt this time will be smoother despite the premier and his Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce’s assurances that the province is already “consulting meaningfully” with First Nations and will continue to do so.
“Speaker, we know the premier is telling untruths to First Nations,” said Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa said during Question Period on June 2—a statement that got him kicked out of the legislature—but one that is a harbinger of what is to come. The Ford government, like one of its predecessors, the Harris Government, is seriously underestimating the resolve of the resurgent Indigenous movement in this country.
Bill 5 threatens to bring about a summer of discontent for all of us, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, as the protests and acts of civil disobedience rise along with the summer temperatures.
Premier Ford will likely respond more forcefully to those protests than his government did during the Freedom Convoy occupation of the streets of Ottawa (anyone confused over why Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre lost his long-held seat in nearby Carlton?). But unlike his erstwhile mentor to the south, The Donald, Premier Ford does not have access to the arms of the military to enforce his dictates.
Environmental legislation was put in place for a reason—to protect and preserve the commons from unfettered exploitation, the bulk of the nasty fallout of which tends to fall on Indigenous communities (Grassy Narrows anyone?)
While Canadians do recognize the importance of strengthening our economy, and critical minerals and other minerals play an important part in that process, Premier Ford may well discover to his detriment that we are not willing to throw the environment out with the tailings water.
Bill 5 has the potential to make the Greenbelt Scandal look like a walk in the park, and the premier may find pontifical pronouncements to be a poor shield against the coming storm should he fail to keep his word on consultations this time around. And is Bill 5 the response to, or a lesson learned from the embarrassing Greenbelt fiasco on the part of the current government? Now, each actions would potentially have legal basis behind them.
