Mr. Speaker, when a law is enacted for the benefit of all in society, it is society as a whole and not an unfortunate few who should bear the associated costs. This rule applies no matter how important the law, and it certainly applies to the worthwhile goal of source water protection as enacted last month in Ontario's clean water act.
To the extent that it is necessary under the clean water act to place restrictions on the use or enjoyment of land or property by farmers and other landowners, the associated financial losses should be fully compensated for by the provincial government with all taxpayers, in other words all beneficiaries, picking up the burden.
It is disturbing that the new law specifically states that landowners shall receive no compensation for damages. The result is that full costs of potentially devastating prohibitions on property use will be borne solely by the landowners, even when the costs were largely avoidable or had been imposed without reason or justification.
This amounts to confiscation without compensation. It is wrong and Dalton McGuinty needs to set it right before great harm is done to thousands of rural Ontario landowners.