If Schedule 3 becomes law,…

If Schedule 3 becomes law, when a Minister’s Zoning Order is used to permit development, it will no longer have to be consistent with Ontario’s fundamental planning principles – set out in the Provincial Policy Statement (the "PPS"). Except within the Greenbelt, lands currently protected under the PPS will become vulnerable to development at the whim of the Minister of the day, as the law is meant to allow MZOs to be issued for development projects that destroy protected farmland, wetlands and natural features.

The timing and context of this legislation suggests that it was designed to legitimize a particular, unlawful MZO (in the Lower Duffins Creek coastal wetland complex) and to undercut a particular legal challenge to that MZO. However the substantive consequences of empowering the Minister to circumvent the PPS are much, much broader. It is the Provincial Policy Statement that directs development away from wetlands and natural hazards all over Ontario - and it is the PPS that requires that development comply with other planning principles - as simple as providing adequate water and sewer, using land efficiently, keeping homes away from potentially dangerous heavy industry, and conserving farmland.

The implications these proposed Planning Act changes have for Ontario’s democracy are just as concerning. Particularly when combined with recent amendments to the Conservation Authorities Act, and with the aggressive overuse of Minister’s Zoning Orders, Schedule 3 of Bill 257 would concentrate the power to approve individual development projects anywhere in Ontario within the hands of a single politician. Rather than working to comply with a predictable, rules-based planning regime, and carefully-considered planning principles, developers will be incentivized to focus on currying favour with the provincial government of the day.

Ontario’s Provincial Policy Statement is essential to ensuring that Ontarians, and the public interest, are protected in development decisions. A development that isn’t consistent with the PPS is one that should not happen at all. Please to work to secure the removal of Schedule 3 of the Supporting Broadband and Infrastructure Expansion Act, Bill 257.