This comment is in response…

This comment is in response to the changes to the Planning Act and the City of Toronto Act (Schedules 9 and 1 of Bill 23), recently passed by the Ontario legislature. As with other parts of Bill 23, I am very concerned as a citizen of a supposed democracy to see such significant changes rushed through with so little regard to the concerns of everyday citizens. I also find the rationale for the whole Act, and Schedules 9 and 1 in particular, to be premised on unsubstantiated claims - the first linking the current housing crisis to a "housing supply crisis," and the second framing a "reduc[tion of] barriers and costs to development" as the solution to the housing crisis. It is well known (including, I suspect, by the architects of this Act), that the current crisis in housing is not caused by "red tape," "development fees," "barriers to construction," or over-regulation, but by land grabbing, speculation, and the growing financialization of real estate - all problems that will be made worse by the removal of local authorities' ability to properly plan, regulate and pay for development within their jurisdictions. Development fees, parklands dedications, and cash-in-lieu requirements are among the very few tools the City of Toronto has to ensure "development" does not come at the cost of liveability and affordability, yet the government of Ontario has just stripped them from the City. Moreover, in spite of the claims made in the Act that the "missing middle" (of gentle density housing) will be addressed, the opposite will be the case. It is precisely the low rise apartment buildings, older buildings of mixed use (storefronts with multiple apartments on upper floors), and multi-unit older houses that will be more easily demolished and converted into expensive condominium towers or luxury "towns." With protections for tenants, non-profits and social housing also removed by the Act, the already existing problem of displacement (of lower-income tenants and other residents) will only be made worse, along with the issue of homelessness in the city - which, as the province well knows, the City will be less able to cope with, given the removal of development charges!

On the issue of democratic process and public participation, I also note with concern here that the Act imposes more restrictions on the appeals process to the OLT (a body already heavily weighted in favour of developers, as its history and that of its predecessor, the OMB, demonstrates clearly). The requirement for public consultation meetings has also, shockingly, been removed. The powers of local Conservation Authorities has been further curtailed - even to the point of not allowing these bodies to advise their municipalities.

What I see with these sections of the Act is a process of clearing the path for poorly planned, poorly executed and unneeded development - at the expense of liveable cities, our natural environment (including within cities), and affordable housing.