Fight property bylaw bullies Invasive section of Ontario Municipal Act should be repealed by Peter JaworskiDid you know bylaw officers in Ontario can waltz onto your private property without your permission and without a warrant?I’ve asked almost everyone I know, and a few strangers too, and the response I get is uniformly the same, “no, surely they can’t!” Oh, but they can.Section 436 of the Ontario Municipal Act gives municipalities the power to pass bylaws that permit their officers to walk around in your backyard “at any reasonable time” to pursue an “investigation” stemming from a complaint. Or if the officer has a hunch that maybe you’re up to no good, erecting too large of a tent in your backyard or, God forbid, breaking some other persnickety bylaw regulation.Section 436 is an affront to the values of privacy and control over our property, and should be repealed.Bylaw officers and their allies might argue that it’s precisely because bylaws are comparatively minor that we shouldn’t worry so much about their power to send a burly man to go on your property when your children are home alone.

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COLUMN: Jaworski – Watch out for your property rights