Under cover of darkness, Infrastructure Ontario began the removal of 865 trees at Ontario Place on the evening of Wednesday, October 2, 2024. Within a single day, workers had cut down the vast majority of those trees.

The work—which includes the removal of every single tree on the western portion of the waterfront site adjacent downtown Toronto—is part of the approximately $200-million in site preparations that taxpayers are funding to prepare the land for Therme, an Austrian spa company, to develop a stadium-sized indoor waterpark on the site.

The next day, October 3, the Province released the details of its 95-year lease with Therme…

A provincial law change that curtailed third-party groups’ ability to appeal development decisions has left environmental and ratepayer groups saying they’ve been silenced in a move that puts developer interests ahead of citizen concerns.

Ontario residents can no longer appeal development decisions at the Ontario Land Tribunal — a quasi-judicial body designed to adjudicate planning and other land disputes — after the Doug Ford government introduced legislation that removes the ability of third-parties such as ratepayer groups or environmental groups to do so.

Interventions in municipal land use planning, particularly in the Greater Toronto Area, by the government of Ontario Premier Doug Ford over the past five years set in motion an enormous, unplanned experiment in what happens when the development industry is given almost everything it wants in a region subject to intense urban growth pressures.

The results of that experiment are now becoming apparent, and they are not good.

Move away from “sprawl and tall” and start building for end users, not investors. Focus on not-for-profit housing, and harness the savings.

Solving Canada’s housing affordability crisis requires addressing the mismatch of housing supply and need.

For too long, we have focused on building “sprawl and tall” – expensive houses further afield and small, costly units in high-rise buildings while neglecting critical segments of our housing system needed to accommodate a range of household incomes and sizes.

Groups frustrated by the Ford government’s “sledgehammer” approach limiting development appeals say they’re now powerless to prevent urban sprawl, loss of farmland, and squandered green space in the province.

Among other changes, Ontario’s Bill 185, known as the “Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act” limits third-party challenges to municipal plans and zoning heard by the Ontario Land Tribunal and dismissed appeals scheduled after April 10. The new rules were introduced by the provincial government to expedite construction of 1.5 million homes by 2031.

A new type of home called a fourplex is being hailed as the answer to Canada’s acute housing shortage. But why is there so much opposition?

Angela Jiang says she is much happier since she moved out of a high-rise apartment building.

She used to live on the 68th floor of a condo tower in downtown Toronto, but five years ago she relocated to a four-unit residential building called a fourplex, in the city’s more low-rise midtown area.

Bill 185, released on April 10, 2024 affects 17 acts, including the Planning Act, City of Toronto Act, Development Charges Act, and others. Bill 185 has reached second reading and was referred to the Province’s Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs. On April 10th, the Province also released a revised Provincial Planning Statement, 2024 (the “Planning Statement”) and a new Minister Zoning Order (MZO) framework. The Planning Statement, which if adopted, will replace the existing Provincial Policy Statement, 2020 (the “PPS”) and include some policies from A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (the “Growth Plan”). The Growth Plan is proposed to be repealed. The Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods opposes most of the proposed changes.

While FUN supports the stated goals of encouraging an increased mix and supply of housing, protecting of the environment, creating jobs and a strong economy, reducing barriers and costs for development, and providing greater predictability, we note that many of the proposed policies pay only lip service to these goals. Several proposed policies undermine the government’s professed commitment to orderly growth management, for example policies such as:

• loosening environmental standards;
• further facilitating sprawl by increasing the opportunities for settlement boundary changes;
• further facilitating sprawl by increasing the opportunities for settlement boundary changes;
• lowering the protection of employment lands by allowing conversions outside of the municipal review process;

In Canada, after an election first ministers write mandate letters to their cabinet colleagues, laying out deliverables their departments should achieve. Some governments make them public (Trudeau, McGuinty and Wynne in Ontario), but others don’t (Harper, Ford). A newly-elected government traditionally outlines its program in its platform and speech from the throne; mandate letters may be more specific. Even if they are not made public, they can provide direction to the bureaucracy. If made public, they can be used to hold the government accountable.