Ontario seeks to speed up construction of housing, roads, transit with new bill giving it more control over municipal processes

Hamilton Spectator

13-05-2025

The province is looking to fast-track road, transit and housing construction by giving itself more control over municipal processes — in part by expanding controversial minister's zoning orders and standardizing municipal development fees in new legislation to be introduced Monday.
The new rules will also prevent municipalities from ordering further studies in relation to new developments as well as adding any construction requirements that differ from the provincial building code, and also give school boards more powers to bypass municipal approvals to add portables on site or plan for new buildings.
The new bill will also give priority to Canadian manufacturers for building materials.
'We are taking bold action to protect Ontario in the face of economic uncertainty by speeding up construction so we can lower housing costs and keep workers on the job,' said Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack. 'The legislation we're tabling (Monday) responds to recommendations and requests from municipal leaders, and will help build the homes and infrastructure Ontario needs.'
Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford, right, with MP Rob Flack earlier this year.
Flack, who made the announcement in Vaughan, said the new rules in the Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act were created with the input of municipalities.
For developers, development charges will be paid at the end of construction — at occupancy — instead of upfront during the permitting process and Flack has said such charges 'can't be punitive.'
'We are pulling out all the stops to protect and build up Ontario during this time of economic uncertainty,' said Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma, who gains the power to issue
Minister's Zoning Orders
— also known as MZOs — which the housing minister will also continue to be able to do.
Since taking office, the Ford government has relied heavily on such orders, which allow the province to override municipal decisions and change land zoning rules to expedite housing developments. An auditor general report last year found the province used the tool 114 times from 2019 to 2023, a 17-fold increase from the previous 20 years.
Last week at Queen's Park, Flack told reporters that 'we've got headwinds in our economy. ... We need bold initiatives, and we have to build faster.'
Development fees, which municipalities use to build infrastructure such as sewers or roads to support housing, will continue, he stressed, but 'they can't be punitive. In some cases, they're too high, and we need to make sure that they're not hurting the cash flow of getting homebuilders getting shovels in the ground.'
In 2022, Premier
Doug Ford
pledged to build 1.5 million new homes by 2031, but his government has not met yearly targets to achieve that goal.
Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca, who has cut development charges in half in his municipality, called the new legislation 'bold and creative action to address the housing crisis.'
Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish called the measures 'much needed ... municipalities cannot tackle this challenge alone — we need support like this to cut red tape, streamline approvals, and create the conditions for faster, more affordable housing development.'
It is unclear how municipalities will react to the delay in development charge payments, given many rely on them to build the needed infrastructure around new housing developments.
York Region has struggled in the past, carrying one of the highest debt loads in the GTA on a per-capita basis, with as much as 85 per cent of its debt based on what it hoped to recover from development fees.
Flack also told reporters last week that expanding the infrastructure minister's MZO powers — which Surma has already used in the Ontario Place redevelopment — is about 'speed and process ... nothing is changing ... due diligence will still be done.'
This is a developing story.