I do not support the changes…

I do not support the changes in Schedule 3 of this Bill.

Minister Calandra spoke to the public in September and October of 2023 and declared that many of the Official Plan changes made by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing under Minister Clark were made without proper oversight and therefore needed to be re-evaluated. The passing of Bill 150 and the Official Plan Adjustments Act, 2023 on December 5, 2023 suggested this was indeed the case and that many of the modifications were deemed to violate good planning principles and were therefore removed.

To return now, only 3 months after passing Bill 150 and suggest that, instead, Mayors are in an appropriate position to pick and choose which of the rejected as inappropriate modifications made by the Ministry they would like to have re-instituted is unacceptable. If these modifications were rejected once, they should not be allowed to return through what amounts to a 'back-door' method.

With all due respect, Mayors are not professional planners, and their opinions do not deserve to be rubber-stamped by this Bill. Rather, any requested changes should be supported by professional planning reports demonstrating that developing on these additional areas is warranted and feasible and that there exists sufficient water and other resources available to accommodate this potential growth.

If the government cannot provide such evidence, either from work done by their own planning staff or a planning report submitted from a municipality requesting a change, then the change should not be made at this time.