I wholly disagree with this…

I wholly disagree with this Planning Act which intends to grant the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing the authority to override or zone any property in Ontario. It unnecessarily provides the Minister with unchecked power and authority over municipal land development, and doesn’t guarantee unbiased or objective professional or personal decisions made by them in regards to zoning.

This Planning Act will ignore and completely disregard the voice of an effected community, who intimately knows its surroundings, nuances and needs – whereasprovince or the Minister will not.

The province and the Minister needs to work collaboratively, respectfully and in total transparency with municipal authorities and community groups of any area they intend to zone. These are the communities and individuals who will feel the innumerable repercussions if the Minister were to disregard and override their input and needs; thus, negatively impacting the physical, structural, characteristic, economic and emotional state of communities.

In addition, this plan does not mention any intention by the Minister or the province to protect or preserve Ontario heritage buildings or environmental conservation. This Planning Act exhibits an intention to use this new power to make decisions that disregard these important issues of our time.

The intention to create affordable housing in the Planning Act neglects to mention quantity or percentage of these homes in relation to new building or land development. Without establishing a minimum percentage of affordable housing in developments, it increases and purveys issues concerning income inequity within communities.