(Queen’s Park) - Randy Hillier, MPP (Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington) presented a motion in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to amend Canada’s Constitution, embedding property rights for the people of Ontario within the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. If passed in the Legislative Assembly and in the Canadian House of Commons, the resolutions will, under the terms of the amending formula in Section 43 of the Constitution Act, 1982, become part of the Constitution of Canada.

Canada’s constitution contains no provision protecting citizens against financially ruinous and uncompensated restrictions on the use of their property. This leaves Ontario residents with no constitutional protection from regulatory takings or unjust treatment. The Canadian Bill of Rights, 1960, makes explicit mention of “the right of the individual to life, liberty, security of the person and enjoyment of property, and the right not to be deprived thereof except by due process of law,” but the Bill of Rights is a federal statute, not binding upon any province.

If it is passed in conjunction with an identical motion in the House of Commons, this motion would entrench property rights alongside the rights to Life, Liberty, and Security of the Person currently afforded all citizens of Canada under Sec. 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Quotes:

“When the province enacts rules and laws to benefit all the people of Ontario, the costs should not be imposed on a small minority.”