Protesters say Bill 60 is an attack on tenants and their right to organize

On Saturday, thousands of tenants and representatives from housing rights organizations across the province marched in Downtown Toronto in a show of fierce opposition to the province’s Bill 60.

Coinciding with National Housing Day, the demonstration began at the office of the Federation of Rental-Housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO) before making its way to Queens Park.

This route aimed to show the close ties between the landlord lobby and the Ford government. This bond was recently exemplified by a handwritten note of thanks from Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Rob Flack, to the CEO of the FRPO, Tony Irwin, uncovered by The North Star.

Organized opposition to Bill 60 and the wealthy landlord lobbies behind it has continued to intensify. 132 organizations, including unions, legal clinics and shelters, released an open letter early last week imploring the provincial government to scrap the bill. The letter reiterated widespread criticism that the bill dangerously erodes tenant rights and will lead to an increase in unfair evictions and homelessness.

Stacey Semple, from the downtown Toronto chapter of ACORN, told The North Star that Doug Ford has continuously ignored the voice of tenants. “We’ve been constantly asking Ford to meet with us. I’ve been a member for two years, and we have no reply, none whatsoever. The landlords ask for it, and he snaps and makes it happen.” Semple said the bill serves to make Doug Ford and his allies richer, at the expense of tenants.

The Ford government has fast-tracked Bill 60 by bypassing public consultation and has ignored criticism, claiming the changes contained in Bill 60 are necessary to clear up a backlog of cases and will benefit renters.

“The whole backlog issue is bullshit,” says Bruno Dobrusin from the York-South Weston Tenant Union, a group representing 2000 tenants across 17 buildings. Dobrusin explains that, “90% of the cases at the LTB are landlord cases and 10% are tenants. A landlord takes three months to get a hearing, while a tenant takes 12 to 18 months at the LTB. So whenever we hear about the backlog, it’s just to speed up evictions. That’s what they’re really trying to do.”

Organizers have highlighted that Bill 60 isn’t just an attack on tenants; it is an explicit attack on tenant organizing. Bill 60’s changes to LTB procedures mean tenants will be forced to pay 50% of arrears before they are able to plead their case before the board, a measure that severely constrains rent strike actions.

Dobrusin says organized rent strikes have been instrumental in fights against bad landlords, and this rule change and others in the bill are meant to undermine recent organizing efforts of tenant unions. “We have seen an increase in more landlord harassment on organizers. They’re more prepared in a negative way, so I see that as a direct connection,” says Dobrusin.

But if Bill 60 and its landlord lobby backers true aim is to stamp out organized resistance, it may in fact be contributing to its growth.

Abram Braithwaite, part of Climate Justice Toronto, says opposition to Bill 60 has furthered connections and emphasized the power of collective organizing. “There have been lots of individual tenant associations and buildings that are being plugged into broader organizations. We have organizations in Parkdale, in North York, in Scarborough.”

“I wish it weren’t these conditions that brought us together,” Braithwaite continues. “But now or never, and I think folks are starting to wake up, that the government, the institutions aren’t going to save us, we’ve got to save ourselves, and we can save ourselves.”

The links between organizers extend beyond tenant and housing rights groups to other organizations fighting for justice. Climate Justice Toronto is not a tenant organization, but it argues that extreme weather can greatly exacerbate the conditions of the homeless.

Braithwaite also says that, whether talking about climate catastrophe or housing, behind it all are “the same connected wealthy interests that have hijacked our democracy, have the ears of our government, and are pushing policies that make them rich at the expense of our livelihoods.” 

With a provincial conservative majority in place, it’s likely Bill 60 will pass. But the resistance does not seem to be scared away, with multiple organizers at the protest expressing optimism in the momentum of collective organizing movements in the face of continuous oppression. They maintain that Bill 60 is one battle, and the fight will continue.