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FORUM: Coming up this legislative session (Apr. 2025)

April 22nd, 2025 · No Comments

Fines for homeless, drug-addicted on the horizon

By Jessica Bell

The Ontario legislature will return on April 14 and run until June 5, 2025.  We expect it to be a history-making time. This is what could be in store for us.

We will respond to the Trump tariff crisis. President Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian energy, steel, and aluminium, along with products and services not covered under the Canadian-United States-Mexico Tade Agreement. Countries are responding with counter-tariffs, including our own.  

The global economy has been upended, stock markets are in shock, the trade war has begun.

With over 80 per cent of Canada’s exports going to the U.S, the tariffs are creating fear, anxiety, and instability for all of us: families, workers, and businesses.  We feel overwhelmed by this threat and worry how it’s going to impact our jobs and our costs. 

How do we respond?  Who do we help?  What do we invest in? What kind of province are we going to build that can not only withstand these economic challenges and the recession that is to come, but build back better?  

The premier has just announced $11 billion in tax deferrals and rebates for all businesses to help them weather the coming downturn..  

With crisis comes opportunity. Out of the 1930s depression came Roosevelt’s New Deal which led to better regulation of the financial system, massive public works programs that employed workers and built infrastructure like bridges and dams, a 40-hour work week, and a minimum wage. 

Tomorrow’s future will be built out of today’s daunting challenges. 

What we can all do, each and every day, is buy local and buy Canadian.  

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) will set its budget for 2025-2026 

Our public schools are beloved and essential, yet they also face huge problems. 

Since the Conservatives came to power, the TDSB has lost $1500 per student when inflation is factored in.   

Every parent has seen the impact of these cuts: the large class sizes; kids who are not being challenged, along with kids who are falling behind; the difficulty  hiring permanent teachers and French teachers; broken washrooms and aging buildings. 

For 2025-2026, the TDSB is facing a big funding shortfall.  We already know the TDSB is short $38.5 million to support students with special education needs, $10.9 million to support student and staff mental health, safety, and well-being, and $4.4 billion to fix our schools and maintain them in good repair.

We are hearing that some schools in University-Rosedale are already being told they will lose teachers and programs. Beverley School, which provides education to the most vulnerable and high-needs kids, has been told they are losing a teacher, which will mean they will have to close a classroom.  

We have been effective in pressuring the province to do the right thing for our kids and our schools. We will be keeping the pressure on this legislative session by organizing with parents, teachers, and students, supporting rallies, and raising issues in Question Period and in the media. 

The legislation to fine and criminalize homeless people will be re-introduced. 

The premier will re-introduce legislation that will give municipalities and police services the power to clear encampments and issue up to $10,000 fines and jail time for people using drugs publicly.  

Penalizing people is an incredibly ineffective, costly, and cruel response to the homelessness crisis the Conservatives helped create. It will lead to more people dying from overdoses in alleyways and more people in jail, and it won’t solve the homelessness crisis, because people will still be homeless. Moving a tent to another park doesn’t make someone any less homeless. 

We are calling for the construction of 300,000 affordable homes and supportive housing units, along with greater investment in mental health and addiction services. 

Please reach out to our offices if you’d like to request a meeting, invite us to an event, or want to work or volunteer with us. 

Jessica Bell is the MPP for University-Rosedale. You can reach her office at jbell-co@ndp.on.ca or 416-535-7206.

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Tags: Annex · Columns · Opinion