From tall grass to bike lanes, the Ontario Superior Court keeps finding new ways to override the will of democracy

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Last week, the Ontario Superior Court ruled that a city bylaw requiring homeowners to remove nuisance weeds and keep grass below 20 centimetres violated the Charter right to free expression. The people of Mississauga, and possibly elsewhere in Ontario, can no longer be forced to mow their lawns.

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Why is this suddenly a constitutional problem? Look to a Mississauga man named Wolf Ruck. Ruck had bought an urban property with a regular turf lawn in 2018 in a decent neighbourhood — one of his neighbours’ houses is currently up for sale for $3 million — and from there, set out to re-wild it. That appears to have been easy: Google Maps shows that from 2018 to 2023, the grass grew out and the wildflowers grew in. Insects naturally followed, as did the wildlife.

The property backs onto a forest and a creek, so from a deer’s perspective, Ruck’s is somewhat of a highway pullout. He liked it that way, and did not appreciate the city coming by and ordering him to mow as a matter of bylaw compliance. He refused … multiple times. Finally, the city sent in staff to give the yard a haircut. And then it sent Ruck the bill.

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