It’s always interesting to at least check out the Private Members’ Bills that are introduced in Parliament. Although most fail to pass, there’s always the chance that they will be incorporated into some other legislation.
Here, we have Bill C-207, introduced by N.D.P. M.P. Rachel Blaney. This Bill, if passed, would amend the Bill of Rights to include affordable housing as a right.
Canadian Bill of Rights
1 Section 1 of the Canadian Bill of Rights is amended by adding the following after paragraph (b):
(b.1) the right of the individual to proper housing at a reasonable cost and free of unreasonable barriers;Coming into Force
First anniversary
2 This Act comes into force on the first anniversary of the day on which it receives royal assent.
Of course, some logistical questions have to be asked:
If there simply isn’t enough affordable housing available, will the Government be able to expropriate others’ private property in order to make some room? In theory, decisions could simply be made that there are better uses of someone’s property without the input or consent of the owners.
If there is a shortage of housing, shouldn’t there be a moratorium on immigration, or at least a serious reduction, until this problem is alleviated? The laws of supply and demand would seem to dictate that closing the borders would be beneficial.
Will previously protected lands — like the Green Belt in Ontario — have to be torn up in order to make space for new housing?
Considering the Bill of Rights applies Federally, what would happen in the event of issues that arise at the Provincial or Municipal levels?
While this may sound well meaning on the surface, it has the potential to create all kinds of headaches and strife. How would these new “rights” be paid for? While this is just a Private Member’s Bill — for now — it could always be stuffed into an omnibus Bill at some later point. True, it hasn’t gone past the initial stages, but it might one day.
(1) https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bills
(2) https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/44-1/c-207
(3) https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-207/first-reading
(4) https://www.ourcommons.ca/Members/en/rachel-blaney(89354)
(5) https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-12.3/page-1.html
Thank you for your important perspective…I always learn so much from you ……
Thank you so much for uncovering these gems, because sooner or later, they find their way into our back yards in the form of legalized interference in private property ownership.
It took several years for the quietly-passed 2007 amendments to the Municipal Act, 2001 in Ontario authorizing UN-controlled municipalities to charge a Vacancy Tax on private property if units remain vacant, to bear fruit.
But there they sat since 2007, ready to ambush the public, once the million migrants per year needed a place to crash at public expense.