'Enough is enough:' Doug Ford says municipalities will be given 'enhanced tools' to respond to encampments

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is promising new legislation to target homeless encampments around the province and is threatening to use the notwithstanding clause to get it done.

In a letter, Ford has responded to a dozen big city mayors who asked him for tougher laws on encampments, saying the province will provide the tools to help municipalities clear them and that "enough is enough."

Ford says new legislation will "explicitly and unequivocally" prohibit the use of illicit drugs in public, adding that there will be new tools and authorities to help police enforce it. He also promised enhanced penalties for people who break the law "deliberately and continually."

Additionally, the premier is pledging to create more funding to boost capacity in shelter systems and have new approaches to treatment and rehabilitation.

The bill will be introduced next week.

Ford's letter is in response to a joint appeal from 12 mayors last month, asking him to use the notwithstanding clause to help tackle encampments and allow them to implement measures "in a timely and effective way."

That letter was signed by a handful of GTA mayors, including Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton and Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow was not among the signatories.

Speaking at a media availability on Thursday, Chow responded to Ford's letter saying, "We don't need to clog up our courts to deal with encampments. The notwithstanding clause is not a solution for our housing crisis."

"When we have a homelessness situation, the solution is housing. It does not matter if you have the ability to remove people if they have nowhere to go," she added.

The request to use the controversial legislative tool that would override the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms triggered strong backlash.

Forty-one municipal councillors across Ontario sent their own letter to Ford in response, calling for “evidence-based solutions to the humanitarian crisis of homelessness and encampments in Ontario.”

The premier also received a third letter, signed by 450 members of Ontario's legal community, saying the notwithstanding clause was "never intended to be used to deprive vulnerable groups of constitutional protection."

In today's response, Ford says he does not expect to use the divisive clause.

But he did threaten that the government is "fully prepared" to use the tool if courts "interfere" with clearing encampments.