Search

Ontario has passed legislation to make it easier for businesses to grow and create more jobs. The Cutting Unnecessary Red Tape Act, 2017 will reduce regulatory burdens and practices that cost businesses time and money, while protecting environmental and health standards and ensuring worker safety.

We have updated air standards for sulphur dioxide and clarified regulatory requirements, which will help to reduce risks to communities near industrial facilities. 

We have made changes to the technical standards for petroleum refining and petrochemical industries. This will improve the air quality and make industries operate responsibly.

We have developed species-specific policies (government response statements) that outline the actions the government intends to lead and support in the protection and recovery of six species at risk in Ontario: Blunt-lobed Woodsia, Colicroot, False Hop Sedge, Scarlet Ammannia, Lowland Toothcup and Eastern Small-footed Myotis.

In collaboration with the government of Canada and many other partners, we have developed a Canada-Ontario Lake Erie Action Plan, which includes over 120 actions to reduce phosphorus loads to Lake Erie by 40 per cent.

Ontario Regulation 311/06, as modified, sets out specific rules for planning matters in process at the time the Growth Plan, 2017 came into force on July 1, 2017.

The fees collected for issuing Crown land dispositions such as leases and land use permit have not changed since 2003. In many cases, the cost to deliver these services exceeds the fees collected. We have updated these fees to keep pace with service costs and inflation.

Following extensive consultations on the Agricultural System for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, OMAFRA is releasing the System’s guidelines and mapping to help municipalities implement these innovative land use planning tools.

We finalized criteria, methods and mapping for the Natural Heritage System for the Growth Plan area for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. This supports the Growth Plan and promotes landscape level management to reverse the trend of habitat loss in the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

This proposal notice invited stakeholders of northern Ontario, Indigenous communities, organizations and people, and interested members of the public to review and provide comments on the Phase 1 Report – The Northern Ontario Context: Implications and Considerations for Strategy Development.

This proposal notice invited stakeholders of northern Ontario, Indigenous communities, organizations and people, and interested members of the public to review and provide comments on the Discussion Paper, Towards a Northern Ontario Multimodal Transportation Strategy.

We have made small changes to the boundary of Sandbanks Provincial Park. These changes add acquired land to the park, allow the transfer of a boat launch property to the County of Prince Edward and allow the County of Prince Edward to widen a section of County Road 12 to a standard width.

Ontario has a new strategy, the Northern Ontario Agri-Food Strategy, to strengthen the role of agriculture, aquaculture and food processing in the economy of Northern Ontario.

We are moving the pesticides licensing program to a digital system. It will make more information available to the public.

We passed a new regulation that will help create offset credits to use in Ontario’s cap and trade program.

We're providing incentives to eligible businesses that want to buy low-carbon commercial vehicles and technologies to reduce emissions. Our goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the movement of goods and non-passenger related services by encouraging a shift towards low-carbon fuels and emission reducing technologies.

The Building Better Communities and Conserving Watersheds Act, 2017, was passed on December 12, 2017. Once in force, it will give communities a stronger voice in land use planning and replace the Ontario Municipal Board with the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal.