I am writing to strongly…

I am writing to strongly oppose key environmental provisions in Bill 60, the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025. While increasing housing supply and infrastructure is a critical goal, the way Bill 60 proposes to do so undermines important environmental protections and climate-resilient planning. Below are my primary concerns:
1. Undermining Sustainable Transportation & Transit
• Bill 60 includes changes to the Highway Traffic Act that prohibit municipalities from reducing motor vehicle traffic lanes when installing new bicycle lanes. 
• This restriction directly harms active transportation and reduces the potential for safe, protected bike infrastructure. By locking in more vehicle lanes, the bill entrenches car dependency. Environmental Defence has warned it could jeopardize rapid-transit expansion (like bus rapid transit) that uses existing curb lanes. 
• Reducing space for buses or protected transit lanes means more cars, more emissions, and less efficient, low-carbon mobility — particularly in dense or infill communities that could benefit from transit-oriented growth.
2. Erosion of Green Building & Development Standards
• According to legal analysis, Bill 60 could prevent municipalities from requiring “green-development standards” (like green roofs) in site planning. 
• These standards are not just aesthetic: they help reduce energy use, manage stormwater, increase urban biodiversity, and mitigate heat islands. Removing or weakening them undermines local governments’ ability to build resilient, climate-smart housing.
3. Weakened Planning Oversight & Local Environmental Input
• Schedule 10 of Bill 60 would amend the Planning Act to allow “as-of-right” variances for minor zoning deviations (such as building height or lot coverage) without full planning applications. 
• Critically, it proposes to make provincial policy statements inapplicable for certain ministerial decisions outside the Greenbelt.  This change may significantly reduce the power of provincial environmental policy to shape planning decisions.
• The bill also expands the use of Minister’s Zoning Orders (MZOs) — giving the provincial government more unilateral power to approve zoning changes.  When planning decisions bypass local processes, there is a higher risk that environmental considerations (like watercourses, wildlife, flooding) won’t get the rigorous local review they deserve.
4. Risk to Water Protection & Public Health
• Bill 60 would establish a new public corporation for water and wastewater services in some regions (e.g., Peel).  Environmental and public-interest groups — including the Keep Water Public coalition — warn that this structure could reduce transparency, weaken accountability, and lead to higher rates. 
• When control shifts away from locally elected bodies, there’s a real danger that water management priorities will lean toward profit or cost efficiency at the expense of environmental protection, source-water quality, and long-term infrastructure resilience.
5. Fast-Tracking Transit & Infrastructure Without Proper Environmental Safeguards
• Bill 60 amends the Building Transit Faster Act, 2020 to shorten public-notice periods (from 30 to 15 days) for certain transit construction activities. 
• The government acknowledges that large transit projects have environmental impacts — tree removal, noise, vibration, waterway disturbance, etc.  However, faster timelines risk compressing or weakening environmental assessments, public engagement, and mitigation planning.
6. Long-Term Climate and Biodiversity Risks
• By centralizing much of the planning authority at the provincial level and reducing local control, Bill 60 could undercut municipalities’ capacity to plan for climate resilience. As noted by lawyers, the bill “will impact overall carbon reduction and climate change targets.” 
• Removing or limiting green development standards and making it harder to prioritize transit and active transport will undermine efforts to reduce emissions, foster less car-dependent communities, and preserve green space.

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Recommendations for Reform / Amendments:
To address these risks, I urge you to support the following changes before Bill 60 is passed:
• Maintain or restore municipal authority to require green building standards (e.g., green roofs, energy efficiency), so communities can build sustainably.
• Allow reduction of car lanes in exchange for dedicated bike lanes or bus rapid-transit lanes — giving local governments flexibility to prioritize low-carbon transportation.
• Strengthen environmental assessment and public consultation processes for transit and infrastructure projects, even as timelines are accelerated.
• Ensure water utilities remain accountable to communities by keeping oversight local or under publicly transparent governance structures, not just corporate boards.
• Preserve provincial planning policies (like the Provincial Policy Statement) in decision-making, especially for environmentally sensitive or growth-managed areas.
• Require climate impact assessments as part of major development decisions under Bill 60 to ensure that new housing and infrastructure align with Ontario’s long-term carbon-reduction goals.

Bill 60 may promise speed and housing growth, but in its current form, it risks gutting critical environmental protections, weakening community input, and locking in car-dependent, high-emissions development patterns. These trade-offs could undermine both ecological health and climate resilience.

If the goal is to build faster, we must not sacrifice the planet — or our ability to protect water, nature, and future generations. Please oppose the bill in its current form or push for strong amendments that safeguard Ontario’s environmental future.

Thank you for considering this perspective.