Hillier sent packing from house after calling Liberal government behavior "criminal"

Jeff Green | Nov 22, 2017

When the Speaker of the whose  asked him to withdrw his accusation,, Hillier said that he would “apologise for having to use that language to describe what the government is doing, but I am not going to withdraw it”.

With that he was asked to leave the house for the day.

When contacted later by the News, Hillier said that what brought him to the tipping point was his frustration that the “government is putting its own convenience over the health of so many people.

The latest events came about after the government announced on Monday night that they were going to limit debate on Bill 174 in order to speed up its passage. The bill, which was introduced the day before the Remembrance Day House recess, has only been before the house for a week and is slated for passage in early December.

One of the major concerns Hillier has with the bill is its omnibus nature. It is titled the “Cannabis, Smoke-free Ontario and Road Safety Statute Law Amendment Act.” Late last week, Hillier made a proposal that the Act be split in three, dealing with Cannabis in one Act, Smoke Free Ontario in another, and Road Safety in a third.

Now that the government is limiting debate on the omnibus bill, he is even more determined to oppose their actions.

“The Cannabis bill alone is a transformative and substantive piece of legislation,” he said “involving the legalization of the consumption of cannabis and setting up a cannabis retail corporation. There are many apparent contradictions in the legislation that need to be worked through in the Act. Instead they are planning to ram it through.”

Combining it with a new Smoke Free Ontario Act brings the rules around vaping into the same legislation as cannabis. Hillier has become an advocate for what he calls the “vaping community” and he describes vaping as “arguably the most effective tobacco harm reduction tool,” and he opposes restrictions that will come in when the new Act is enacted.

“The government is saying we would rather you remain addicted to tobacco than find a way to kick the habit,” and he points to the support he has received in opposing the legislation from followers of the website vapingisntsmoking.ca which has generated 7,000 email to the government opposing the new legislation.

The main objection to the Act is that is lumps vaping in with tobacco, which advocates of vaping see as contrary to what vaping is all about.

“Vape shops will be prohibited from displaying vape devices, components or juices, allowing their customers to handle vape products, or test flavours before purchase. This bill places further restrictions on areas of use, and where exemptions are made, those using vape products are forced to share spaces with those using traditional tobacco products” in an article that was posted on his website last week.

“The PC’s [Progressive Conservatives] have a bill in front of the house to mandate cameras on school buses, to prevent people from blowing by the school buses. They included that bill with this legislation to pressure us into supporting it in order to pressure us into supporting the rest of the legislation. It is a cynical move,” Hillier said.

As far as the Cannabis legislation itself, Hillier is concerned about vague wording and apparent contradictions.

“I don’t smoke or ingest cannabis, but I did in the past, just about everyone who is my age did, and certainly I know people who still do. I think the legalislation is long overdue, but the way they are going about this is going to make it very difficult. With few exceptions, the only place where it will be legal to smoke is in people’s own homes. They may not want to smoke in front of their children or other family members. There are a lot of issues here that are not going to be addressed.”

Hillier said that the standing committee that will consider Bill 174 will only be hearing from 28 people across the province, for five minutes each, between Tuesday and Thursday of next week. People need to get their name before the committee by Monday of next week to have a chance to be one of those 28.

Bill 174 will likely receive third reading about a week later.

Bill 174 can be viewed by going to ontla.on.ca clicking on “bills and lawmaking” and following the links from there.

(note - this article has been changed from a previous version which claimed, in error, that MPP Hillier called the government "god-damned liars", in the house,  which was not the case. He did use salty language in recalling the event after the fact to this reporter, but did never did use the word liars.)