Freedom! What does that mean to you? Private Property! What does that mean to you?

Message from Tom Black, OLA President

These are questions that most of us don’t ask here in this great white north, strong and free. Part of the reason that we are so complacent, is because, we in this generation have never really had any worries about our freedom. This country has never had a serious threat from outside of our borders, though we all felt the horror when the towers fell on 9/11 and the resulting panic removed many of our freedoms to travel.

The FLQ uprising was very real and worrisome but Canadians for the most part, did not feel threatened. Why at this time, do we start to question the loss of freedom?

While we were sleeping our society took a serious turn to the left. With that kind of swing, people start looking for government to do everything for them. Of course, to have government do that, we must give up a few freedoms here and there, but what the heck, look what we get in return. We’ve got the Human Rights Commission to protect us from someone calling us names. We’ve got the CRTC to keep Lowell Green from insulting us on his radio talk show, health inspectors making sure that we don’t smoke cigarettes, drink fresh milk, or eat ungraded eggs. I know some of these things seem like a reasonable thing to do, since most people don’t have enough common sense to decide what they should censor for themselves. The question is: who is sitting in those ivory towers deciding what the great unwashed can, or cannot do?

Now the latest “chip off the freedom block” is the Ontario Provincial Police lobbying municipalities to pass an “anti-fortification” bylaw sometimes called the “anti-bunker” bylaw. Communities all over Ontario are having this proposed at local councils. The police want more power to enter private properties that have installed gates or walls that may represent a barrier to police forces. Watch-tower type of structures are a no-no, so hunters with tree stands may well be the target of this bylaw. Farms with heavy gates for large animals, or high fences to keep noisy neighbours from looking, would become illegal. And oh yes, what about barbed wire and electrified fencing that is so common in the rural areas.
All this to protect us from potential drug lords or biker gangs. So instead of dealing with the problem, as in the criminals, the police would instead ask lawmakers to remove the rights of everyone else in society to make us equal to the criminals. Not unlike the gun registry, this law is aimed directly at law abiding citizens.

Obviously the police are able to call in any amount of armament to remove real criminals when necessary, and even the army if more fire power is needed. Therefore this is just another ploy to remove property rights. I have great respect for our police forces and the work that they do to protect us, but if this is allowed to continue, the final result will be a police state.

The sad commentary on our society is that some municipalities have already passed this anti-fortification bylaw without a thought given to the freedoms that they are giving up on our behalf.