Municipalities' pushback grows against Ford's council-overriding Bill 5

National Observer

21-07-2025

When Councillor Tammy Hwang attended a recent meeting of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), she expected concern about the Ford government's controversial Bill 5. What she didn't expect was how unanimous — and intense — the reaction would be.
'It was a heated and very raucous conversation among political leaders,' said Hwang, who represents the City of Hamilton and sits on the association's board. The board has 41 members representing Ontario municipalities big and small. 'Every single one of us was very concerned and had significant misgivings about Bill 5.'
Speaking to her colleagues at last week's Hamilton planning committee meeting, Hwang said the association's policy team 'heard us loud and clear' and discussions will likely continue at its annual conference in August.
'This is not just a Hamilton thing,' she said. 'The other 444 municipalities share in Hamilton's concerns and misgivings about a lot of these policy changes.'
That concern is now boiling over into formal opposition. According to an analysis of municipal meeting minutes from across the province by Canada's National Observer, more than 30 municipalities are passing motions, sending letters and urging federal intervention on Bill 5.
From urban centres like Hamilton, Guelph and Kingston, to commuter towns, such as Caledon, Orangeville and Shelburne, to rural and cottage-country communities like Wawa, Trent Lakes, and The Archipelago — and inspired by First Nations opposition — resistance to Bill 5 has become a province-wide movement.
Hamilton has been one of the most vocal opponents. The city council passed a motion opposing the legislation and sent letters to five provincial ministers.
According to an analysis of municipal meeting minutes from across the province by Canada's National Observer, more than 30 municipalities are passing motions, sending letters and urging federal intervention on Bill 5.
At the centre of their concerns is the creation of 'Special Economic Zones,' which allow the province to override local planning rules, weaken environmental oversight and undermine Indigenous consultation. The criteria for these exemptions remain vague.
'Hamilton is interested in investment and economic growth,' Hwang told Canada's National Observer. 'But we also have some of the most fertile farmland in the province, and we're trying to build a sustainable city. We just want to make sure growth happens in the right places with respect for the land and community needs.'
Hwang said the impact of Special Economic Zones will differ in each municipality and expects more pushback from municipalities as people see how Bill 5 affects their communities.
Coun. Craig Cassar, who brought forward the motion in Hamilton, described the bill as 'fundamentally undemocratic.' He warned it could disrupt local efforts to protect biodiversity and conservation, pose risks to endangered species and highlighted the lack of meaningful consultation with First Nations.
'This bill is titled Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, and to me, it evokes the image of a wild beast being unleashed — attacking Indigenous rights, endangered species, ecosystems as a whole, and municipal local democratic rights,' Cassar said. 'So, for once, it's actually an appropriately named bill, but for all the wrong reasons.'
Echoes of Greenbelt scandal
Hamilton's concern is also shaped by recent history. The Ford government previously attempted to remove protected Greenbelt land within the city as part of what became the $8.3 billion Greenbelt scandal — an effort to open thousands of acres of conservation land to developers. The decision was later reversed following public outcry and a damning Auditor General's report.
Cassar said Hamilton's $1.3 billion agri-business sector could be directly affected by development in Special Economic Zones. 'Once you pave over farmland, it's gone forever.'
At a recent rally outside Hamilton City Hall — dubbed 'Kill Bill 5' — hundreds gathered to demand the province reverse course.
Similar alarm bells are ringing in Dresden, a small town in Chatham-Kent where residents are fighting a proposed landfill near their community. What pushed them over the edge was the discovery that the project was exempt from environmental assessment under Bill 5.
'We've passed motions, sent letters, attended committee hearings,' reads an email response from the Chatham-Kent mayor's office. But Chatham-Kent isn't stopping there. The city is calling on the federal governmen t to intervene — an escalation that underscores just how powerless municipalities feel under the new law.
In a letter, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario also voiced its concerns about Bill 5 and urged the province to consult municipalities before enforcing Special Economic Zones.
'Without limits on how SEZs [Special Economic Zones] are identified, and which bylaws would be exempt, municipalities are concerned that the use of SEZs to bypass local deliberation on proposed projects may not deliver on the promise of supporting economic growth,' the letter reads. 'Instead, SEZs may hinder or prevent these projects from moving forward.'
Association president and Westport Mayor Robin Jones said while the organization supports economic development, the process must respect local decision-making.
'We understand the need for the government to support economic projects that are going to move forward provincial priorities,' Jones told Canada's National Observer. 'Our concern is using a special economic zone contrary to municipal bylaws without the support of the municipality.'
A pattern of planning rollbacks and Ford governs by crisis
The Ford government's push to override local planning rules in the name of economic development isn't new.
Christina Bouchard, a doctoral candidate and teacher in political studies at the University of Ottawa, who worked in municipal planning for over a decade, said Bill 5 is just the latest but more aggressive in more than 30 planning reforms introduced by the Ford government since 2018.
Similar to Bill 5's Special Economic Zones, the government introduced Bill 66 in 2018 with 'open-for-business by-laws,' which would have allowed municipalities to bypass environmental protections, including Greenbelt safeguards, to fast-track development.
After strong public and environmental pushback, the government removed the clause.
Bouchard said the province keeps using the same method: cut local rules to speed up development. But instead of simplifying the system, repeated changes have created new challenges for municipalities trying to understand and apply land use laws.
Bouchard said the Ford government this approach follows a pattern she calls 'governing by crisis.'
'Since he came into office — first the economic crisis, then the real COVID crisis, then the housing crisis and now the tariff crisis — each time, the government uses it as a reason to 'cut red tape,'' Bouchard said.
But she suggested this approach doesn't always address the underlying problems. Social issues are complex and relying on a single solution may not deliver the results the government wants.
According to Bouchard, many of the environmental protections and planning policies now being weakened were originally introduced in response to past public concerns about sprawl, gridlock, and the loss of farmland and green space. She said cutting these policies without careful review risks undoing progress made over the past two decades.
She also warned that many people may not understand Bill 5's full impact until projects start in their communities. That's when concern and opposition are likely to grow — especially in areas where development could harm drinking water, farmland or local infrastructure.
But at that point, it may be too late. Bouchard said not all communities will be equally equipped to push back. Municipalities with fewer resources may struggle to defend their interests if they're bypassed by provincial decisions, raising serious equity concerns in how the bill's impacts are felt across Ontario.