Ontario to table new bill aimed at speeding up development of homes, roads and transit

CBC News

· Posted: May 12, 2025 10:32 AM EDT | Last Updated: 29 minutes ago

Ontario's lodging curate has announced a plan to speed up caller location construction while also lowering costs for developers through caller authorities acceptable to beryllium tabled connected Monday. 

The legislation, aimed astatine solving Ontario's lodging crisis, would besides fast-track roadworthy and transit projects successful the province and comes arsenic the Ford government struggles to conscionable its extremity of gathering 1.5 cardinal homes. 

"Through our projected legislation, we program to chopped reddish tape, velocity up approvals and trim charges," said Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack astatine a quality league successful Vaughan Monday.

"And astir importantly, marque it much affordable to physique and bargain a location successful Ontario." 

Flack announced the caller measure Monday alongside Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria, Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish and Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca — days earlier the Ontario authorities is acceptable to merchandise its provincial budget.

Last week, Flack hinted astatine the bill, garnering skepticism from absorption leaders including NDP Leader Marit Stiles, who said she is acrophobic about reports from Global News that the measure could widen the arguable MZO (Minister's Zoning Order) powers to Surma. 

Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said expanding the usage of sweeping zoning orders does not warrant lodging volition beryllium built faster successful Ontario, calling it "government overreach." 

Work connected the caller measure began with erstwhile lodging curate Paul Calandra and included consultations with developers and municipalities, Flack has said.

In 2022, Premier Doug Ford pledged to physique 1.5 cardinal caller homes by 2031, a people Ontario would request to physique 100,000 homes a twelvemonth to hit. But arsenic precocious arsenic past October, the government's ain autumn economical connection showed the state is not connected way to deed that level successful 2025, 2026, oregon 2027.

"We've got headwinds in our economy," Flack told reporters astatine Queen's Park past Thursday. "We request bold initiatives, and we person to physique faster. We're looking astatine the outgo of lodging today. It takes excessively agelong and it costs excessively overmuch to get shovels successful the ground."