Clinton News-Record, 1977-12-08, Page 8PAGE 8--CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1977
Jack's Jottings from Queen's Park
BY JACK RIDDELL, M.P.P.
In recent years farmers
have been exhibiting a
growing concern for property
rights for the owners of
private land. This concern
prompted a bill to be in-
troduced in the Legislature
by Robert Eaton (PC -
Middlesex), to deal with petty
trespassing.
An act to amend the Petty
Trespass Act was given
approval in principal in the
Legislature this week and will
now go to Committee where
any amendments to the Bill
can be made.
The purpose of the Bill is to
remove requirements from
the Act that land be enclosed
or that land must be posted
before one can be considered
a trespasser. It places the
onus on persons to ask per-
mission to enter another
person's land and increases
the maximum fine to $1,000
from the present $100. It
removes liability from a
property owner for
trespassers unless deliberate
intent to do harm to the
trespasser is involved.
It is gratifying to know that
some of our curiously archaic
laws. are being amended. As
the situation is now, the
provinces rural community is
virtually powerless to stop
trespassers. All farmers have
horror stories of trespassers
making free with their
property. Domestic ducks
and geese are shot, Cattle and
other livestock are wounded
or killed, fences are cut.
Gates are left open and
garbage is strewn around
fields including bottles which
play havoc with the, tires of
the farm vehicles passing
over the land.
When the Act was drafted,
no doubt most of Ontario was
unoccupied land and an
important source of food
supply. Now virtually all the
province is under ownership
and the forest is no- longer a
source of food, yet this out-'
dated law still dominates
rural areas of Ontario..
I'm a little surprised that a
Private Member's Bill had to,
be introduced to amend the
Act. As faOack as December
1976, -I wrote a letter and
directed it to the Attorney
General's office asking that
the Act be brought under
review and amended. The
letter and material for-
warded eventually ended .up
in the hands of Counsel,
Policy Development Division
of the.Ministryof the
AttorneGeneral, who ad-
vised, that an intensive
examination of the law and
issues related to both the
liability of occupiers of land
to entrance onto their
premises and the rights of
occupiers against trespassers
is 'underway in the Ministry.
He was hoping that some
relevant legal reform will
result. I do not, know why the
Attorney General did not
introduce any amendments to
the Act and why he waited for
a Private Member's bill to be
introduced.
Nevertheless, the amen-
dments to the Petty Trespass
Act are supportable, although
some of the anglers and
hunters feel that the clause
which would require that
every person who unlawfully
enters or in any other way
trespasses upon another
person's land must, obtain
ritten permission, is unduly
harsh. Particularly, in the
northern part of the Province
where boundaries are ob-
scure and where the owners
of such ,property cannot be
located. This concern will be
examined at. the Committee
stage.
I have supported the bill
and I feel the time is long
since passed when rural
Ontario should provide a
playground for the Province.
,An independent' com-
missioner and review board
will be established to hear
citizen complaints against
policemen. The new seven -
member Citizens' Complaints
and Police Discipline Review
Board would be appointed rol-
a three-year term, and would
Our mistake
In the special "meet the
Mustangs" pages in last
week's ,,News -Record, it was
inadvertently reported that
Bill Roy played his minor
hockey in Thunder Bay. He
didn't. Bill was _ born in
Thunder Bay, but has played
all his minor hockey in
Clinton.
The News -Record wishes to
apologize for any in-
convenience this may have
caused.
Smile
It's do longer a sin to be
rich -- now it's a miracle.
have power to dismiss,
demote, fine or reprimand
police.
The commissioner would
have over-all responsibility
for handling complaints
against local police forces
'and the Ontario Provincial
Police, although policy forces
would carry out initial in-
vestigations. If a citizen is not
satisfied, or the charge is
serious, the commissioner
would continue the in-
vestigation. His powers would
be comparable to those of the
Ombudsman, including the
right to enter offices to
examine documents. He
would have his own research
staff, and the right to order
hearings by the review board
if there is evidence of
misconduct or unsatisfactory
performance by police.
The Provincial Ombud-
sman has expressed the view
that his office's opera,ns in
Northern Ontario will, ave to
be terminated because the
Legislature's Board of
Internal Economy has
slashed his request for $1.1
million in supplementary
financing back to $600,000.
"I really feel we have been
emasculated by this," he
said. "We'll almost have to
close up shop, except to carry
on the office and do work
around Toronto."
The area from Parry Sound
north produced just under 30
per cent of .the 4,989 cases
brought to completion by the
Omjudsman's office in the
period from July 1976 to
March, 1977.
Under amendments to the
Highway Traffic Act, the
Ontario Government will give
police the,power confiscate
radar warning devices, called
Fuzzbusters by one
manufacturer. The bill will
allow police to seize the
devices from cars, although it
will not make theirtpossession
illegal if they are not in a
vehicle. The owner of the car-
at
with one of the waroipg
devices would be subject to a
fine of from $50 to $500. The
Minister has acknowledged
that enforcement of the ban
night be difficult but said
'most citizens are law-
abiding" and he hoped they
would stop buying the
devices.
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