One current area of severe censorship is any questioning of the “climate emergency” or of the dominant mediascape view of “climate change”.
Here, OCLA researcher Denis Rancourt interviews climate activist Tony Heller about the need for freedom of expression amid censorship by mainstream and social media corporations.
Journalist Dr. John Cooper recently published this article in LawNow:
In Canada and elsewhere, freedom of speech is on the endangered list
Here is the full interview with OCLA Researcher Dr. Denis Rancourt, which Dr. Cooper made in preparation for his article. The interview was organized through OCLA. It represents the spontaneous answers of Dr. Rancourt, not an official position statement.
Q: What are the major challenges journalists face with respect to press freedoms (e.g. access to sources, reduced access to information, fear of government intervention, arrest, etc)?
A: First, we must define journalist. The Supreme Court of Canada, in decisions related to freedom of expression, recognizes two overlapping categories of journalists: Career or salaried journalists working for large media corporations (corporate journalists), and citizen social-media or blogger journalists working independently under a variety of arrangements (social-network journalists). These two categories of journalists are broadly recognized as influential in society, and are often competitors in shaping or consolidating or compartmentalizing public opinion.
The OCLA endorses the recently expressed position of the BCCLA.
Whereas the OCLA and the BCCLA (and the CCLA) are distinct and separate organizations, the OCLA nonetheless also opposes the international campaign to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which is targeting all levels of government in Canada, as well as universities, police, and other authorities.
In this context, the OCLA opposes the “hate speech” provisions of the Criminal Code. The said provisions are distinct from the “threat of violence”, “harassment” and “coercion” provisions, are contrary to international law, remove the State’s onus to prove actual harm to any actual specific victim, and are incompatible with democratic values. Further, the said provisions are susceptible to erosion and practical abuse from political campaigns such as the IHRA campaign.
The OCLA has the position that the State should stay clear of societal debates, no matter how distasteful or “harmful” some participants may find expressed opinions and beliefs. There is no body of science that establishes a causal link between negative or extreme views expressed in society at large and individual or mass crimes. Advancing such a link is equivalent to advancing any other baseless pretext for State censorship.
Related OCLA position statement:
The OCLA has published a research report (OCLA Report 2019-1) authored by OCLA Researcher Dr. Denis Rancourt.
The report is entitled “Geo-Economics and Geo-Politics Drive Successive Eras of Predatory Globalization and Social Engineering: Historical emergence of climate change, gender equity, and anti-racism as State doctrines”.
The Introduction / Abstract reads as follows:
The influence of geopolitical and global economic conditions on the fabric of domestic societies and on individual psychology is most frequently underestimated by civilian commentators, especially regarding Western “free and democratic” societies. The military, on the other hand, do not underestimate the importance of broad trade and economic factors on the very fabric of a society and on the psychology of its citizens, at least in targeted developing countries.
This article has two main goals.
The first is to demonstrate the large extent to which the global financial system determines national and regional reality in people’s lives and security, including in the USA itself and in the Western world in general, with an emphasis on the two main post-World-War-II transformations, which were initiated in 1971, following the cancellation of the Bretton Woods agreement, and in 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The second is to describe the on-going tectonic shift that followed the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union in broader terms than is usually envisioned, and how this driven and coordinated shift was chronologically accompanied by: a dramatic acceleration of trade and finance “globalization”, and an unprecedented campaign of social engineering of the Western uppermiddle-classes, aimed at facilitating USA and world-elite opportunistic exploitation of the new global circumstances, in turn leading to the present Gilets jaunes, Brexit, Trump… backlash. (In a sense, “the Russians did it.”)
The full report can be read at the link HERE.
Dear OCLA Supporter,
This email is to give you an update on the Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA)’s work and activities in 2018.
2018 OCLA Civil Liberties Award – Donald Best
Donald Best, a former detective and current anti-corruption whistleblower and activist, was the recipient of the 2018 OCLA Civil Liberties Award.
Donald’s video of his acceptance speech can be watched at the following link, along with a video introduction of Donald by Professor Julie Macfarlane, Director of the National Self-represented Litigants Project: https://ocla.ca/ocla-civil-
Hiring of third-party psychiatrists and psychologists to opine on dangerousness of individuals
It has become a widespread practice in Ontario for the state, institutions, employers and litigation or political adversaries to purchase individualized psychiatric profiles or evaluations of individuals they wish to harm or control.
OCLA’s statement opposing this practice and invitation to victims to come forward can be read here.
Letter to the Attorney General of Ontario re: Censorship provisions of Canada’s Criminal Code
In July, the OCLA sent a letter asking the incoming Attorney General of Ontario Caroline Mulroney not to consent to prosecution under the censorship provisions of Canada’s Criminal Code, and to retract the Attorney General’s consent for ongoing prosecutions initiated with the consent of her predecessor.
The letter explains the noncompliance of these Criminal Code provisions with international law and their potential to be used for propaganda and societal manipulation. The letter, Attorney General Mulroney’s response, and the OCLA’s reply can be read here.
Landowner rights
The OCLA provided legal research and litigation logistic support in Ottawa homeowner Dr. Hadi Salmasian’s constitutional appeal against the “minor variance” provision of Ontario’s Planning Act.
Dr. Salmasian’s legal submissions summarize the problem as follows:
Ontario is the only province in Canada whose bylaw-variance provision in its planning act sets a jurisdictional threshold as “minor variance”, without defining “minor” and without providing the established criteria of undue harm from compliance with the bylaw and absence of injury to neighbouring properties.
As a result, the known market and political forces have free reign. The variance provision has become a committee and tribunal planning instrument in-effect without democratic oversight, and the impacts on established neighbourhoods are devastating, in Ottawa at least.
Links to the key legal documents of Dr. Salmasian’s appeal are contained at the bottom of the blog post here, and all of the OCLA’s blog posts about this matter are available at the link here.
Facebook censorship
Facebook’s October purge of some “800 pages and accounts” was the largest overt purge of political content since the advent of the social media giants, deplatforming ordinary citizens on an unprecedented scale.
The OCLA’s statement and press release on the purge is posted at the link here.
OCLA statement on the notwithstanding clause controversy
In September, Ontario witnessed a controversy concerning Premier Doug Ford’s intention to invoke the “notwithstanding clause” of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in response to a judge’s decision to strike down as unconstitutional the government’s reduction in the number of wards in the Toronto’s 2018 municipal election.
In the OCLA’s position, posted on our website and sent to media on September 12, we stated:
[I]t has surprised us that the media has focused almost entirely on the potential use of the notwithstanding clause rather than critically examine the judge’s reasons for striking down the statute in such a dramatic way.
[…]
In our examination of the ruling, we fail to see how the candidate’s freedom of expression rights were violated by the restructuring of the ridings, which at the time of the ruling had already been put in place.
The judge was required to identify evidence that expression was actually prevented or impeded but he did not. The judge did not describe one iota of evidence that any candidate’s expression about anything was impeded by Bill-5. Nor did the judge provide a theoretical example of how any specific expression would be prevented or impeded by Bill-5.
[…]
Faced with a highly disruptive ruling that makes no sense, we fail to see why the Premier would not invoke the notwithstanding clause. One could argue that it is the Premier’s duty to do so in such circumstances.
Our position was covered in the media on September 13, and on September 19 the Ontario Court of Appeal issued its ruling staying the decision of the lower-court judge. The appeal court’s ruling aligned perfectly with the OCLA’s position, which cannot be said for the great majority of media and political pundits on this issue.
Media coverage
– December 4: “Detective turned activist wins prestigious civil liberties award”, Ottawa Sun
– September 13: Interview on The Craig Needles Show re: Ontario government’s use of the notwithstanding clause
– July 17: Interview on The Evan Soloman Show re: the trial of Monika Schaefer on charges of denying the Holocaust
– March 17: “Airline bill hitting turbulence, says watchdog”, Winnipeg Free Press
– For a list of all media articles see here.
How to stay connected and donate to the OCLA
Website: https://ocla.ca
Twitter: @oncivlib
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/
The OCLA is an independent, volunteer-run organization. Donations help cover operating costs such as booking rooms for public events, printing promotional material for campaigns and events, and paying for court filing fees and court document production costs (copies and binding) for court and tribunal interventions on civil liberties issues.
As we are an entirely volunteer-run organization with a very small budget, we do depend on donations to continue our work, and appreciate any contribution you can make.
Donations can be made in two ways:
1) Through PayPal, by clicking the “Donate” button in the top-right corner of https://ocla.ca; or
2) By sending a cheque to “Ontario Civil Liberties Association” to our mailing address:
Ontario Civil Liberties Association
170 Laurier Avenue West, Suite 603
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1P 5V5
The OCLA is not affiliated with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) or the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA). All three associations are separate and distinct.
Thank you for your support and all the best for the New Year!
Yours truly,
Joseph Hickey
Executive Director
Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) https://ocla.ca
613-252-6148 (c)
joseph.hickey@ocla.ca
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – ONTARIO CIVIL LIBERTIES ASSOCIATION
POSITION STATEMENT AND INVITATION TO VICTIMS
The widespread practice of hiring third-party psychiatrists and psychologists to opine on the dangerousness of individuals is repugnant in a free and democratic society, OCLA
(Ottawa, October 23, 2018) — It has become a widespread practice in Ontario for the state, institutions, employers and litigation or political adversaries to purchase individualized psychiatric profiles or evaluations of individuals they wish to harm or control.
The justifications that are stated for making these so-called expert evaluations are typically “public safety”, “risk assessment”, “workplace safety”, “accommodation”, or simply “public interest”, as with powerful public figures.
This widespread activity involves a new cadre of medical-health professionals that populate the fields of so-called “forensic psychology” and “violent personality assessment psychiatry”. These experts are extensively used in court, tribunal and arbitration proceedings, but also in the management of workplace conflicts.
The Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) is of the position that the practice of using hired experts to opine on the dangerousness of an individual employee or defendant or opponent is repugnant in a free and democratic society for three reasons:
i. The assessments are not reliable predictions. There is no scientific basis for predicting violent behaviour of a specific individual beyond the obvious considerations of history of violence and immediate circumstances (such as war or prison conditions, and so on).
ii. Hired assessors are decidedly biased in favor of the party retaining their services, as adversarial allegiance comparative studies have conclusively established.
iii. The ethical rules of practice of the expertise are inadequate and are often violated even when sufficiently spelled out in statutes and regulations.
OCLA is aware of four (4) cases in Ontario, which are egregious violations of civil, student and workers’ rights.
For these reasons, OCLA invites complainants against such professional assessments (victims of this practice) to come forward, to go public, and/or to privately contact OCLA using the contact page at: https://ocla.ca/
Media contact:
Joseph Hickey
Executive Director
Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) https://ocla.ca
613-252-6148 (c)
joseph.hickey@ocla.ca
La pratique généralisée consistant à faire appel à des tiers psychiatres et psychologues pour juger de la dangerosité des individus est répugnante dans une société libre et démocratique, ALCO
(Ottawa, le 23 octobre 2018) – Il est devenu courant en Ontario que l’État, les institutions, les employeurs et les plaideurs ou les adversaires politiques achètent des profils psychiatriques individualisés ou des évaluations d’individus qu’ils souhaitent nuire ou contrôler.
Les justifications avancées pour réaliser ces prétendues évaluations d’experts sont généralement «la sécurité publique», «l’évaluation des risques», «la sécurité sur le lieu de travail», «les accommodements» ou simplement «l’intérêt public», comme dans le cas de personnalités influentes.
Cette activité très répandue implique un nouveau groupe de professionnels de la santé travaillant dans les domaines de la «psychologie légale» et de “l’évaluation psychiatrique de la personnalité violente». Ces experts sont largement utilisés dans les procédures judiciaires, procédures d’arbitrage, mais aussi dans la gestion des conflits en milieu de travail.
L’Association des libertés civiles de l’Ontario (ALCO) soutient que la pratique consistant à faire appel à des experts embauchés pour se prononcer sur la dangerosité d’un employé, d’un défendeur ou d’un opposant est répugnante dans une société libre et démocratique pour trois raisons:
i. Les évaluations ne sont pas fiables. Il n’existe aucune base scientifique permettant de prévoir le comportement violent d’un individu spécifique au-delà des considérations évidentes telles que les antécédents de violence et les circonstances immédiates (telles que la guerre ou les conditions de détention, etc.).
ii. Les évaluateurs recrutés sont biaisés en faveur de la partie qui fait appel à leurs services, comme le prouvent les études comparatives sur l’allégeance adverse des experts scientifiques et médicaux.
iii. Les règles de pratique éthiques de l’expertise sont inadéquates et sont souvent violées même lorsqu’elles sont suffisamment énoncées dans les lois et les règlements.
L’ALCO connait quatre (4) cas Ontariens qui sont des violations graves des droits civils des individus, des étudiants et des travailleurs.
Pour ces raisons, l’ALCO invite les plaignants contre de telles évaluations professionnelles (victimes de cette pratique) à se faire connaître, à s’exprimer publiquement, ou à contacter l’ALCO à titre privé en utilisant la page de contact à l’adresse suivante: https://ocla.ca/
Contact :
Joseph Hickey
Directeur exécutif
Association des libertés civiles de l’Ontario (ALCO) https://ocla.ca
613-252-6148 (c)
joseph.hickey@ocla.ca
(Ottawa — October 13, 2018) The Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) is concerned that Facebook has actuated a massive purge of accounts that feature independent journalism and political content, for the reasons given of alleged spamming, profit seeking, misrepresentation of identity, “misleading users” and to “keep our community safe and respectful”.
The Facebook accounts of the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Globe & Mail were untouched, which suggests that Facebook’s motives are not as it claims. The larger media sites are known to be biased, to have political and establishment ties and to mislead by omission and spin. One need only consult the landmark research of Herman and Chomsky.
The Facebook purge of some “800 pages and accounts” is the largest overt purge of political content since the advent of the social media giants, and it constitutes deplatforming of ordinary citizens on an unprecedented scale.
For example, the renowned Canadian site “Press for Truth” was affected, mere days after it published an unparalleled in-depth interview with Maxime Bernier.
The purged accounts have tens and hundreds of thousands of followers, and are known to have a significant influence in domestic politics.
Both Left and Right accounts were affected, apparently barring a simple partisan motive. Likewise, OCLA does not believe that the purge is motivated by a corporate civic duty for public safety or by a desire to optimize the quest for truth. Rather, OCLA believes that the purged sites represent a “threat of democracy” rather than a “threat to democracy”, and that the purge is a test for eliminating competitors of the dominant establishment-controlled media.
OCLA notes that Facebook and the social media giants have been given access to the public internet both through the infrastructure largely paid for by public funds and through the state-run legal structure of corporate law that allows their profitable operation in the public sphere.
As such, these corporations must be bound by the principles that underlie the constitutions and charters of our free and democratic societies. Corporate censorship against ordinary users cannot be a design characteristic. There must be a high threshold preventing censorship, with the onus to prove the necessity for any censorship lying squarely with the entity that seeks to censor.
There is an urgent systemic need for limitations so that the social media giants cannot at their discretion censor individual expression. What the social media giants are constantly pressured by powerful interests to achieve amounts to using monopolistic market and establishment forces to deprive the proverbial pamphleteers of paper, ink and silkscreens, and access to public venues and doorways. It amounts to blacklisting books from libraries, bookstores and coffee shops. It must be stopped. This is a shameful episode of Western civilization.
About the Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA)
The OCLA vigorously advocates for authentic and unqualified freedom of expression of individuals, on all topics and in every form, in accordance with the right to free expression enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The OCLA also advocates for unimpeded civil liberties and civil rights of all persons, in dealings with public and private institutions and corporations.
The OCLA is not affiliated with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) or the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA). All three associations are separate and distinct.
Contact:
Joseph Hickey
Executive Director
Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) https://ocla.ca
613-252-6148 (c)
joseph.hickey@ucalgary.ca
Map of historic toxic landfill sites in Ottawa, Ontario
PDF document of this post: LINK.
SUMMARY: The Committee of Adjustment (COA) of the City of Ottawa has been disregarding provincial environmental protection law and policy in approving triplexes and other buildings by so-called “minor variance applications” in Old Ottawa East (OOE, Ward 17); while simultaneously the City refuses to disclose the results of its active soil toxicity measurement program in OOE. Minor variance applications are requests to derogate from bylaw restrictions. The bylaw does not allow triplexes on the lot sizes in OOE. A resident appealed against the COA approval of a triplex on a lot in front of his home. He argued on appeal to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) that the approval itself was unconstitutional (derogation from a democratically enacted bylaw), that the COA and LPAT do not have jurisdiction to approve the development because the variance from the bylaw is not “minor”, and that the development is harmful and unjustified.
Parties in the appeal:
The appeal (File No PL180613: Salmasian v. 170 Preston Ltd.) was heard by LPAT Member Justin Duncan in Ottawa on October 3, 2018. The hearing lasted all day, from 10 AM to 5:35 PM, with a 40 minute lunch break (1:20 PM to 2 PM).
Hadi Salmasian was aided by Ontario Civil Liberties Association researcher Denis Rancourt. (Rancourt was also a witness and is a resident of OOE and an internationally recognized environmental scientist.)
Anthony Cava was aided by consultant and lobbyist Bill Holzman (Holzman Consultant Inc.). (Cava did not offer witness testimony.)
The applicant was initially represented by BLG lawyer Emma Blanchard, who was released by her client and was not present at the hearing.
City lawyer Kristina Mahon was present, with law student Z. Al-Waadh, to seek party status in the appeal.
The issues before the tribunal were:
The first ruling made by the Member was to deny Salmasian’s request to make a voice-recording of the hearing. The recording was to supplement Salmasian’s personal notes. The request was vigorously opposed by City lawyer Mahon “because there is no official recording or transcript of the LPAT hearing”.
“We don’t allow it”, Duncan said in his ruling.
The second issue was the question of the City’s request of party status in the appeal. Salmasian said he welcomed the City’s constitutional submissions in aid of the tribunal but opposed the City’s full party status. The City said it would voluntarily limit itself solely to the constitutional questions.
The Member’s ruling was to grant the City full party status (without constraints). The City as party exceeded the constitutional questions several times during the appeal and always palpably sided with the applicant.
The third issue was that the City contested allowing any hearing of the constitutional grounds (asked for the constitutional issues to be struck out) by alleging the technicality that there was not sufficient proof that the Attorney Generals (of Ontario and Canada) had been given notice of the appeal. The Member heard representations and ruled that there was sufficient reason to conclude that the Attorney Generals had been given due notice.
The first witness was a witness for the appellant. Neighbourhood resident Bruce Saunders testified that there are 4 triplexes that came onto the immediate Chestnut Street area by minor variance applications, that these have been transformed into quadruplexes, and that the buildings disrupt the character and lifestyle of the neighbourhood and cause harm to the residents of the neighbouring detached houses.
The next witnesses were for the applicant.
Jonah Bonn was put forth as an expert witness, in the area of urban planning. Salmasian contested his expert-witness status because Bonn has no relevant education and is a long-time employee of Bill Holzman who, in turn, has an extensive record of lobbying City councillors for clients seeking bylaw changes.
The Member ruled to grant Bonn expert-witness status.
Bonn explained the history of the application and argued that the triplex development should be approved, that an approval would be consistent with the City’s Official Plan (OP), the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) and the Planning Act.
Bonn testified that the “4 tests” of the Planning Act (s. 45(1)) were satisfied, which is a legal question for the decision maker (Member), not a matter on which an expert planner should give opinion evidence.
In cross-examination, Bonn admitted that the five buildings he used for favorable comparison (exhibit 1-20) were all results of minor variance applications and a site-bylaw change (“spot zoning”). He did not know the PPS provisions about contaminated sites. His characterization that “most houses in the area are war-time bungalows” was challenged and clarified by him accordingly. Actually, most houses in OOE are one, two and sometimes 3-story detached and semi-detached homes, not the rare “war-time bungalows”.
The next witness for the applicant was City planner Victoria Bissonnette. Her status as an expert witness was not challenged and was granted by the Member. Bissonnette testified following her original written opinion to the COA that “the City planning department has no concerns with the application”.
Bissonnette also testified that “the variances sought meet the four tests under the Planning Act”. Again, this is a legal question for the decision maker (Member), not a matter on which an expert planner should give opinion evidence. The applicant latter argued that the two expert witnesses had given this same “evidence” and that there was no counter expert evidence on this point. The Member had no problem hearing such submissions and this kind of thing has often found itself in the words of decisions by the Ontario Municipal Board (prior name of the tribunal).
On cross-examination, Bissonnette testified that the management instrument for “impact reduction” is the bylaw. Regarding variance from the bylaw, Bissonnette explained that in her practice as a City planner and in her expert testimony “minor variance” means “impact on the site, on neighbouring properties, and on the Streetscape”.
Bissonnette’s meaning defies the legal definition of “minor”, in which the quantified magnitude (size) of the variance or the qualitative magnitude (importance) of the variance disjunctively can be sufficient, irrespective of “impact”, to make a variance not “minor” and, therefore, beyond the jurisdictions of the COA and of the LPAT.
“Streetscape” refers to “Streetscape Character Analysis (SCA)”, a technical practice that controls visual impact in mature neighbourhoods according to technical criteria solely about front yard character, front door position, and parking space position; without any measures whatsoever regarding relative bulks, shapes, and heights of buildings. Bissonnette agreed that visual impact could be beyond Streetscape parameters.
Next, for the appellant, Salmasian himself testified about the nature of the recent developments involving large triplex and quadruplex buildings that violate the bylaw restrictions for the lot sizes.
On cross-examination, Salmasian was asked whether he knew that it would be against the law for the applicant to transform his triplex into a quadruplex. Salmasian testified that he does not know those legalities.
Rancourt then testified for the appellant.
Rancourt tried to enter a 17-page document listing the lobbying activities of Bill Holzman, by arguing its relevance. The Member did not accept the evidence because he could “not see its relevance”. The evidence was denied.
Rancourt entered a signed letter from Ronald Rose, Chair of the Planning Committee of the OOE Community Association, which described the undesirable nature and characteristics of the triplex developments on Chestnut Street, and the Association’s opposition to these developments.
Rancourt used many pictures to show the character of the OOE neighbourhood. Rancourt gave a detailed description with pictures of the egregious case of “minor variance” developments of large triplexes/quadruplexes at 35 and 43 Chestnut Street, which isolated the home at 39 Chestnut Street and caused harm to the resident as: many surrounding air-conditioning units, walling in on both sides, high balconies removing any backyard privacy, shadowing, and so on.
Rancourt gave testimony supported by pictures of profitable new developments in OOE, on Simcoe Street, which strictly follow the bylaw, without any derogation. These are detached 2-story homes that are for sale at the asking price of $1.3 million each. The new homes preserve the neighbourhood character and intended purpose of the bylaw.
Rancourt gave picture evidence that visual impact of bylaw-disallowed triplex buildings is important and is not captured by Streetscape analysis, which is meant for bylaw-allowed similar homes in mature neighbourhoods.
Rancourt gave documented testimony about the established soil toxicity problem in the area, about the on-going City and Ministry joint soil toxicity study of the very area of the impugned development, about the City’s refusal to provide the analysis results, and about the known nature of the relevant historic landfill site falling under industrial activity regulated by Ontario statutes.
Rancourt tried to enter a written opinion, sent to him directly in affidavit form, from former long-time Ward 17 councillor Clive Doucet. The said opinion of Doucet detailed that Doucet has two urban planning university degrees, has sat on major planning committees, and has written books and reports about urban planning. The Member found that there would be insufficient evidence before him to support expert-witness status. The Member went on to strike out the duly filed document completely from the appellant’s Book of Exhibits.
Finally, Rancourt tried to file a 16-page “Review of court and tribunal decisions regarding s. 45(1) of the Planning Act” prepared by him. The City argued vigorously to strike out the document. The Member ruled that he would not receive the document but that the appellant could cite case law in his closing statement. The document contained many examples of tribunal and appellate court decisions that are contradictory or incorrect, as evidence that s. 45(1) is unconstitutionally vague.
The evidence was followed by the closing statement of the appellant.
Salmasian stated:
“To the best of my knowledge, this is the first constitutional challenge of the Planning Act. Ontario is the only province in Canada whose bylaw-variance provision in its planning act sets a jurisdictional threshold as “minor variance”, without defining “minor” and without providing the established criteria of undue harm from compliance with the bylaw and absence of injury to neighbouring properties.
As a result of the vagueness that comes with not defining “minor”, market forces have free reign. The variance provision has become a planning instrument in-effect without democratic oversight, and the impacts on established neighbourhoods are devastating, in Ottawa at least.
Applications for changes to building types not allowed by the bylaw are virtually always approved, where no reasonable person would consider the changes in building type to be “minor” derogation from the bylaw.
Before I outline my legal arguments, let me explain in plain language the nature of the loophole that this minor variance application represents:
The neighbourhood is zoned “R3P”. From Table 160A of section 160 of Bylaw 2008-250, it follows that the lot at 7 Chestnut Street — having a width of 10.98 m and an area of 318.5 m2 — does not allow a triplex. Period. Only the building types “detached”, “duplex”, and “linked-detached” are permitted on a lot of these dimensions. This is explicitly the directive of the written bylaw, and is therefore its intent. By variance to 12 m and 360 m2, the explicit bylaw constraint on building type is circumvented to allow a triplex. Virtually all the lots in the neighbourhood are the same size and there should be no triplexes. That is the nature of this application.”
Salmasian then went on to explain the four issues in the appeal.
The applicant made a short closing statement.
Next it was time, at 5:30 PM, for the City to make its arguments against the appellant’s constitutional arguments.
The Member said that he did not need to hear the City and that he was prepared to make his ruling immediately.
The Member ruled that the appeal is received in part: The applicant developer was ordered to secure a Phase-I environmental site assessment as a condition to LPAT accepting the application. The constitutional charges were denied without explanation.
Earlier in the hearing, the Member said he first read the legal submissions of the parties (80 pages, in three books) during the 40-minute lunch break. After giving his final ruling, the Member stated that he would provide “fulsome” reasons for his decision in approximately “two months”.
RELATED OCLA REPORTS ON THIS CASE, with links to tribunal-filed documents:
NEW DOCUMENTS RECEIVED OR SUBMITTED AT OCT.3 2018 HEARING:
About the Member: Justin Duncan has been a member of the Ontario Municipal Board since 2016 and the Environmental Review Board since 2014. Prior to his appointments, he worked for 12 years as a lawyer advocating on public interest environmental, natural resource, and planning issues. Mr. Duncan’s community involvement includes being a member of the Society of Ontario Adjudicators and Regulators, and a member of the Sustainability Network. He is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Queen’s University. [From the LPAT webpage.]
The OCLA is providing legal research support in Dr. Hadi Salmasian’s constitutional appeal against section 45(1) of Ontario’s Planning Act.
The Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) appeal no. PL180613 will be heard and is open to the public here:
10:00 AM, Wednesday October 3, 2018, City Hall, Keefer Room, 110 Laurier Ave. W., Cartier Square, Ottawa, ON K2P 2L7
Two recent post give links to the previously filed documents and background:
OCLA supports opponents of Ontario’s vague and unfair planning law (Sep 5 2018) (LINK)
BLG lawyer asks LPAT to consider denying full right to appeal urban development decision (Sep 10 2018) (LINK)
The latest documents filed prior to the October 3 hearing are:
