All this wait for a Bill 90 that says "may"?

by Jay Arthur

After waiting so long for some kind of legislative action in Ontario on blue box funding we have been offered Bill 90. It's not a law yet, and there will be more delays before this actually happens--if it actually happens.
But what is a law? I ask the question because reading Bill 90, I am really not sure. When I think of law I like to go back to the basics.
Charlton Heston came down from the mountain with two tablets and carved on these were the principles from which a just society would be founded.
Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal. And no covetting of your neighbour's missus. This was pretty clear --a no if's or but's law.
So, after what has been an agonizingly long wait for Moses to return to us, what do we see in Bill 90?
It begins well enough, with definite statements about what it shall do.
It shall set up Waste Diversion Ontario. There shall be four municipal reps, eight industry reps and one person appointed by the minister. More on that later (and see the cartoon on Page Two).
WDO shall set up waste diversion programs, shall enhance public awareness and participation, shall make sure the market place is "affected in a fair manner", shall figure out the costs it needs, and shall perform a number of administrative functions.
It's all very much as you would expect, until you get to the section everyone has been waiting for: Waste Diversion Programs and Industry Funding Organizations.
Now, all of a sudden, all those "shall's" have been replaced with "may's".
(Section 22) The minister may require WDO to develop a waste diversion program for a designated waste or may require the program to be developed in co-operation with an existing or a new organization. May?
(Section 24) A waste diversion program may include activities to reduce, reuse and recycle the designated waste. May? This bill is subtitled: "An Act to promote the reduction, reuse and recycling of waste."

(Section 29) An industry funded organization, once sanctioned by the minister may make rules designating stewards and setting fees. May?
(Section 40) The minister may make regulations to implement the various aspects of the bill. May?
Have municipalities in Ontario waited all this time for may?
Whatever the good or bad points in this legislation, there is no commitment from the Province to actually do anything.
This is the equivalent of our friend Mr. Heston making his long-awaited grand entrance and announcing to assembled multitudes: "The Big Guy may require that people do not kill each other. He may designate certain acts like  theft, covetting, etc. as contrary to the intent of the Act. Or He may not."
Then again, if we are to believe Hollywood, the tablet inscriptions were a joint effort by the Big Guy and a few celestial flame throwers, with little or no input from industry.
While it is tempting to suggest Bill 90 was actually written by industry lobbyists, it is more likely they just provided administrative assistance.
How else do we explain the bizarre wording of Section 24, sub-section 5? "A waste diversion program developed under this act for blue box waste shall not provide for payments to municipalities that total more than 50 per cent of the total net operating costs incurred by the municipalities in connection with the program.".
That wording is a long way from the 50/50 commitment we keep hearing about. Actually, that's what we have now. Zero is "not more than 50 per cent".
How else do we explain the make-up of the proposed WDO board? Eight industry reps plus four industry observers (whose level of participation will be determined by the board) will be offset by four municipal reps, a non-voting MOE bureaucrat and a minister's designate who may be an NGO rep but could just as easily be another industry participant.
In the meantime, this Bill, at the earliest, will not become law until the late fall. Then, if the minister immediately requires an operating agreement for blue box funding, the WDO has 180 days to come up with one. That would be nine months from now.     
Shh-ting!--another $15