“Allow public consultation…

“Allow public consultation at the discretion of the municipality, while requiring public notice after the by-law is passed (at a minimum);”

This is aburd. If this moves forward it will prove an embarrassing mistake for the government, along the lines of the backlash from the Liberal’s Green Energy Act (i.e. allowing proper planning processes to be bypassed for large scale development projects).

No job creation project should sacrifice the fundemental right of public input. Furthermore, no project should sacrifice the integrity of Ontario’s ecological resources, which many planning rules and regulations are intended to protect. Ontario’s natural environment is the foundation of our communities and will continue to be a major economic resource (e.g. tourism and recreation) in the future. The proposed planning tool puts this long term resource at risk for short term gain.

Changes to the OMB were intended to alleviate some of the NIMBY challenges experienced in the past. This proposed planning tool goes too far and presents a high risk of abuse at the local level.

Please consider ways to improve existing planning processes similar to the new LPAT system and support / invest in planning authorities (eg municipalities, conservation authorities, etc) so they have the resources to expedite appprovals while implementing public and environmental protection policies.