I am a resident of Toronto's…

I am a resident of Toronto's Corktown community and I am absolutely outraged at the Province's use of Minister Zoning Orders (MZO's) to tear down our historical buildings, like the Dominion Foundry Buildings. I believe the use of MZO's is a punitive and heavy-handed approach to municipal planning and intentionally ignores paths of public consultation and municipal planning codes (including heritage designations) so that the Ontario Government can fast-track building plans to benefit developer friends. The Government should not be given the authority to do this in secret. The demolition of the Foundry Buildings, for example, was never publicly announced. The power to issue Minister’s Zoning Orders should be significantly restricted because, since 2019, the Ministry has been excessively used Minister’s Zoning Orders and seriously undermined the existence of agricultural lands and natural and architectural heritage. I believe that all Minister’s Zoning Orders should conform to, or be consistent with the official plans, provincial plans, provincial policies (including the Provincial Policy Statement, 2020) and other such instruments, applicable to the relevant geographic area, and should, notwithstanding their framing as regulations, and be subject to binding Local Planning Appeal Tribunal appeals on that basis. My further view is that the Planning Act should be amended so as to require that any Minister’s Zoning Order be accompanied by the Minister’s written reasons for determining that it complies with s. 24, s. 2, s. 3 of the Planning Act. More importantly, the Minister’s Zoning Orders should not be exempt from the Environmental Bill of Rights or Heritage Preservation Bylaws, be they the Province or Municipality. Public consultations and consultations with all relevant groups should be required for MZOs, including consultation under Part II amendment or revocation of an MZO.
Most troubling is the use of MZO's that stomp on environmental and heritage protections in Ontario. We believe the Conservation Authorities Act should be amended so that Minister’s Zoning Orders do not alter either the authority of conservation authorities to refuse, or impose conditions on, permits for the relevant development, or the appeal route for such conditions or refusals. Let us be clear: the absence of appropriate consultation as per s. 15(1) of the Environmental Bill of Rights is itself sufficient to warrant a full repeal of Schedule 17 of Bill 197. A retrospective consultation cannot cure this failure, so any provisions the government wishes to proceed with should be introduced, with consultations, as stand-alone legislation.
The Minister should not be given the authority to exempt properties from Site Plan control. Separately, as advocates for heritage preservation, I have substantive concerns regarding the content of Schedule 17 of Bill 197. These pertain, for the most part, to provisions which amend the Planning Act (ss. 47 (4.3) - 47 (4.12)) to empower the Minister to strip municipal governments of site plan control where a Minister’s Zoning Order is issued. In my view, municipal site plan control is an ESSENTIAL TOOL for environmental protection and heritage preservation in Ontario, and the Minister should not have the power to override or remove it. These provisions should not have been introduced, and ought now to be REPEALED.
In some locations like wetlands and conservation areas, the substantial environmental impacts of such factors (e.g.placement of proposed buildings and earthworks within a development site, the selection and placement of trees, ground covers, and paving) are quite direct. For example, many municipalities have specific municipal zoning designations, and corresponding site plan control bylaws, for land within or closely linked with the Oak Ridges Moraine or the Niagara Escarpment. Such bylaws allow the relevant municipality to provide the more detailed examination and control that is required to ensure each development proceeds in a way that does not harm source waters or even heritage designations. Schedule 17 of Bill 197 prevents this essential work from happening at all when the Minister issues an MZO with site plan control. This outcome will arise because the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing simply does not have the site-specific knowledge and expertise to do this work prior to the issuance of a Minister’s Zoning Order, and the MZO process does not mandate the incorporation of the relevant municipality’s knowledge and expertise into the Minister’s decision. Would the Ministry have known that Dominion Foundry material has been historically catalogued in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.? But if the Minister had consulted with the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, the need to preserve the Foundry's heritage designation and its historical relevance within the community would have superseded the Minister's rush toward a demolition permit!!!
This was the case of the the re-development proposal for the Dominion Foundry site put forth in 2009 by the International Resource Centre for Performing Artists who submitted a site plan to the Ontario Government (who ignored it) and that sought to reinvent the Foundry site buildings with affordable housing and office space including a box office for two performing arts venues, a reference music library and record shop (on consignment), and a retail gift shop welcoming visitors, tourists and community members. In the re-purposed Dominion Foundry Machine Shop space, an exhibit honouring Canadian musicians, past and present was configured. But even more exciting, small and large chamber spaces were planned for live performances, auditions, and for rehearsal venues as well as a recording studio that would be rented out to Canadian and international musicians. Of course that never happened!
Finally, I believe “affordable housing” should not serve as a trojan horse for Minister’s Zoning Orders. Secondarily, we have deep concerns regarding s. 47(4.3)(c) of the amended Planning Act. While we approve of requiring, for any development that is approved by way of Minister’s Zoning Order, that a substantial percentage of the new units created be affordable, we are concerned that relatively minor contributions to the supply of affordable housing will be used as a pretext for broader Minister’s Zoning Orders that should not be issued at all - like the rushed demolition of the Dominion Foundry buildings. Rather than expanding the scope of Minister’s Zoning Orders, we would ask that the government introduce legislation to SUBSTANTIALLY LIMIT the circumstances in which they are permissible, and in particular to prohibit the issuance of MZOs for land that includes heritage buildings, wetlands or other features of ecological, agricultural and architectural/historical significance. Thank you for your attention, these are very important issues and I hope you will do the right thing.