Ontario Premier Doug Ford is set to hold a news conference Thursday, where it is expected he will detail new legislation aimed at dismantling homeless encampments and clamping down on public drug use.
Ford is scheduled to speak at 10 a.m. ET at Queen’s Park. His office says he’ll be joined by a host of cabinet ministers, including the minister of health, minister of municipal affairs and housing, the attorney and solicitor generals, and the associate minister of mental health and addictions.
You can watch the announcement live in the player above.
In a letter to more than dozen mayors last week, Ford said tough new legislation would provide municipalities with tools and additional funding to clear homeless encampments. He also said police would be given more authority to enforce a prohibition on public drug use and stiffer penalties for those who “deliberately and continually break the law.”
Ford also said he was willing to use the controversial legislative tool known as the notwithstanding clause to override the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms “should the courts interfere” in municipalities using the new provisions.
Ford’s letter came in response to a public request from the same group of mayors to strengthen involuntary addiction treatment laws and have the province become an intervener in court cases where municipalities are looking to clear encampments.
They also asked for certain laws to be strengthened to allow for arrests and jail time for those who repeatedly trespass.
While some mayors welcomed Ford’s promise to use the notwithstanding clause if courts try to strike down parts of the legislation, others — such as the mayors of Toronto and Hamilton — have publicly opposed the measure.
Homelessness and encampments have risen dramatically under Ford’s term, with tent cities popping up in municipalities small and large throughout Ontario. The Association of Municipalities of Ontario says there were 1,400 encampments across the province in 2023.
Shelters throughout the province are full, with some 12,000 people in Toronto’s shelter system alone.
Opposition parties at Queen’s Park have accused Ford and his government of failing to build new housing and aiding municipalities in expanding shelter space.