We recently had a tenant contact our office to raise a very concerning issue. The tenant had read about the recent court decision that forced a tenant to pay his landlord’s delinquent tax bill to the CRA, the Canada Revenue Agency, and he was concerned that this rule could affect him.

Since his landlord was refusing to tell them if they were paying their taxes, the tenant contacted the CRA and asked them what he should do. The CRA told him to withhold 25% of his rent and pay it directly to the CRA.

Now, if a tenant doesn’t pay on time, the CRA’s website says they will pay interest and they may be fined. The tenant went back to the landlord with the bad news and the landlord said, “If you withhold your rent to pay this tax bill, I’m going to evict you for arrears.”

Okay, so this tenant is now caught between a rock and a hard place, between having the CRA go after him for someone else’s tax bill or risking eviction. And this renter isn’t alone. Every renter who is living in a property owned by a non-resident landlord could be in the same horrible predicament.

No tenant should have to risk eviction for paying their non-resident landlord’s delinquent tax bill. This is fundamentally unfair. In this incredibly expensive housing market, renters have it hard enough.

We are requesting the following measures to resolve this situation: The province should direct the Landlord and Tenant Board to deny any landlord’s application to evict a tenant if the tenant is withholding rent to pay the landlord’s own tax bill, and second, the CRA should work with the federal government to reverse this rule immediately and not force tenants to pay their landlord’s delinquent taxes ever.

My question is to the Premier. The government has said it is looking at continuing its assault on democratic norms by bringing strong-mayor powers to more regions, including Halton, Durham, Niagara, Peel, Waterloo and York. We do not have to sacrifice democratic norms to address our housing crisis.

Instead of doubling down on minority rule, can your government withdraw Bill 39 immediately?

This morning, I was in committee on Bill 39, debating one of the most unsettling and troubling bills that has passed through this Legislature in decades. Bill 39 is an attack on the fundamental tenets of representative democracy, on citizen voice, on citizen say. By giving mayors permission to pass laws with just one third of votes, the Premier has made it clear that representative democracy and majority rule don’t matter much to him. And it won’t just stop in Toronto and Ottawa—minority rule could come to any municipality in Ontario, through regulatory decree.

We are living through a time when democracy is under threat. Who would have thought that the greatest threat to democracy here in Ontario would come from the Premier?

This bill will make Ontario an appalling first. No democratic government across North America makes rules using minority rule except for us.

Bill 39 is an attack on farmland and our greenbelt. We are one of seven regions in the world that grows more food than we need. In this era of climate crisis and food insecurity, our farmland should be expanded, not paved over—but paving over is exactly what this government is doing, by hiving off a section of the greenbelt for development owned by some of the government’s largest PC donors, giving them the opportunity to make untold profit at our expense.

We can do better than this. Homes are for people. Democracy is for all of us. Repeal Bill 39.

Democracy is important. Humanity struggled for hundreds and hundreds of years to secure democracy. People went to war to uphold democracy. People have lost their lives to secure the right to vote.

Bill 39 is an affront to representative democracy. It is not democratic to have eight out of 25 councillors decide matters that affect 2.9 million people. It is not democratic to have the Premier do away with an election and hand-pick regional chairs.

This has nothing to do with solving the housing affordability crisis, and this has everything to do with taking power away from citizens and concentrating power in the hands of the Premier and the mayor of Toronto.

True leadership means governing for everyone, not just the few. True leadership means listening and collaborating with all Ontarians, not just the ones that donated to your election campaign.

This government has political power—it’s true—but Ontarians have people power. We have people power. And people power always wins, provided that we exercise it. Thank you to the many of you who have written letters, made phone calls, attended protests, joined advocacy groups, spoke out in the media, are going to court and who are persuading and encouraging your friends and neighbours to speak up and get active.

In the face of a government that does not respect democratic norms, our involvement has never been more important.