The following submission…

The following submission requests significant changes in the direction this act is taking. I do not support this act in its present form.

Although this act appears to be an attempt to fix systems deemed to be functioning poorly, it creates a system in which democracy is further threatened by those possessing wealth and power. There will be vast unintended consequences of this legislation, only a very few of which I identify below.

Regarding Schedule 5 and Amendments to the municipal act proposed, the assumption is that democracy and wise local planning are not at work in local municipalities. This decreases democratic participation in matters of local interest and assumes that a centralized decision made in Toronto knows better than local representatives and local citizens.

The proposed Schedule 6 is undoing years of careful participatory planning in municipalities and regions that know their areas better than a centralized Toronto decision can ever approximate.

Shortening periods of notice reduces access to participatory citizen wisdom that democracies need to encourage.

The expansion of ministerial powers is another attack on democratic citizen involvement. Indeed, the named minister is becoming a one source Arbitrator and Land Tribunal. This is not democracy at work and is an affront to the wisdom of Ontario’s citizens.

I find it a great omission that the proposed changes do not involve updating the Ontario Building Code to include Energy-Star requirements for new Builds, along with climate-change mitigating heating and cooling provisions, Construction processes and construction materials that mitigate and reduce carbon emissions.

It appears this act (Bill 97) is miss-titled and should be titled the Urban Sprawl and Acreages for the Wealthy Act. I see no incentives or directives for any significant, truly affordable housing for those currently homeless, the working poor, or other Ontario citizens with meagre financial means.

Bill 97 in combination with Bill 23 (also mis-titled) encourages urban sprawl and single detached housing, disregard for environmental effects of such activity, and ignores the climate emergency descending rapidly upon all Canadians.

No, I cannot support the direction this bill is projecting for Ontario's future.