{"id":103634,"date":"2026-04-08T16:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T20:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=103634"},"modified":"2026-04-08T16:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T20:16:11","slug":"environmental-groups-launch-constitutional-challenge-over-ontarios-special-economic-zones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/08\/environmental-groups-launch-constitutional-challenge-over-ontarios-special-economic-zones\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental groups launch constitutional challenge over Ontario&#8217;s special economic zones"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Liam Casey Several environmental groups have launched a constitutional challenge seeking to kill an Ontario law that allows cabinet to suspend other laws, arguing the Doug Ford government has abdicated the role of the legislature. Wildlands League, Environmental Defence Canada, Friends of the Earth Canada and Democracy Watch allege Ontario&#8217;s special economic zone law delegates powers reserved for the legislature and wrongly puts them in the hands of the cabinet. Ford&#8217;s Progressive Conservative government passed Bill 5, which included the special economic zone provision, last year. That provision allows cabinet and the environment minister to suspend any and all provincial and municipal laws within such zones as they see fit. &#8220;We say that this delegation that the Special Economic Zones Act allows for goes too far, that it&#8217;s not&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F04%2F08%2Fenvironmental-groups-launch-constitutional-challenge-over-ontarios-special-economic-zones%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Liam Casey Several environmental groups have launched a constitutional challenge seeking to kill an Ontario law that allows cabinet to suspend other laws, arguing the Doug Ford government has abdicated the role of the legislature. Wildlands League, Environmental Defence Canada, Friends of the Earth Canada and Democracy Watch allege Ontario&#8217;s special economic zone law delegates powers reserved for the legislature and wrongly puts them in the hands of the cabinet. Ford&#8217;s Progressive Conservative government passed Bill 5, which included the special economic zone provision, last year. That provision allows cabinet and the environment minister to suspend any and all provincial and municipal laws within such zones as they see fit. &#8220;We say that this delegation that the Special Economic Zones Act allows for goes too far, that it&#8217;s not... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F04%2F08%2Fenvironmental-groups-launch-constitutional-challenge-over-ontarios-special-economic-zones%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Environmental groups launch constitutional challenge over Ontario&#039;s special economic zones - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/08\/environmental-groups-launch-constitutional-challenge-over-ontarios-special-economic-zones\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Environmental groups launch constitutional challenge over Ontario&#039;s special economic zones - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Liam Casey Several environmental groups have launched a constitutional challenge seeking to kill an Ontario law that allows cabinet to suspend other laws, arguing the Doug Ford government has abdicated the role of the legislature. Wildlands League, Environmental Defence Canada, Friends of the Earth Canada and Democracy Watch allege Ontario&#8217;s special economic zone law delegates powers reserved for the legislature and wrongly puts them in the hands of the cabinet. Ford&#8217;s Progressive Conservative government passed Bill 5, which included the special economic zone provision, last year. That provision allows cabinet and the environment minister to suspend any and all provincial and municipal laws within such zones as they see fit. &#8220;We say that this delegation that the Special Economic Zones Act allows for goes too far, that it&#8217;s not\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/08\/environmental-groups-launch-constitutional-challenge-over-ontarios-special-economic-zones\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-08T20:16:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/08\\\/environmental-groups-launch-constitutional-challenge-over-ontarios-special-economic-zones\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/08\\\/environmental-groups-launch-constitutional-challenge-over-ontarios-special-economic-zones\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Environmental groups launch constitutional challenge over Ontario&#8217;s special economic zones\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-08T20:16:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/08\\\/environmental-groups-launch-constitutional-challenge-over-ontarios-special-economic-zones\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":785,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/08\\\/environmental-groups-launch-constitutional-challenge-over-ontarios-special-economic-zones\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/08\\\/environmental-groups-launch-constitutional-challenge-over-ontarios-special-economic-zones\\\/\",\"name\":\"Environmental groups launch constitutional challenge over Ontario's special economic zones - 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