Tay Valley Township Council…

Tay Valley Township Council submits the following comments about Schedule 9 of Bill 5 – Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, 2025.

Schedule 9 authorizes the Lieutenant Governor to make regulations designating special economic zones and the Minister to make regulations designating “trusted proponents and projects”. The trusted proponents and projects can then be exempted from requirements under an Act, regulation or other instrument under an Act, including by-laws of a municipality or local board. In other words, if a developer was designated a trusted proponent, environmental protections, Township by-laws, and other regulations could be waived.

The Township objects to this hijacking of democratic community decisions (Official Plans, Zoning By-Laws) to be replaced by the goals of for profit, private interests. The provincial government was recently rebuked by the Auditor General for misuse of Minister’s Zoning Orders (MZOs). This proposal appears to ignore that analysis and proposed to create MZOs on steroids.

The opportunity for corruption is also raised by the creation of “trusted proponents”. As a TVO article points out, “the government is asking the legislature to put extremely lucrative powers in the hands of cabinet ministers dealing with companies whose officers can make generous political donations”. The Township does not support this direction.