Thank you, Speaker. It’s great to be here. Please know that I’ll be sharing my time today with the parliamentary assistant to municipal affairs and housing.

As the minister has in the past informed us and has outlined, our proposed Greenbelt Statute Law Amendment Act resets decisions made by the government at the end of 2022 by proposing to restore all of the properties that were redesignated or removed from the greenbelt. It protects those lands, and in doing so, redefines how changes to the greenbelt boundaries can be made in the future—through legislation instead of regulation.

It’s clear that while our government remains committed to tackling Ontario’s housing supply crisis, we have to do it in a way that maintains and reinforces public trust and is sensitive to the concerns of communities across this province. Achieving this demands a multi-faceted approach, which is why, in addition to the proposed bill before the House today, you will hear and have heard us speak in support of Bill 150, the proposed Planning Statute Law Amendment Act.

That proposed legislation, if passed, would reverse provincial changes made to municipal official plans, except where these changes are needed to align with legislation or regulations. This includes winding back changes to urban boundaries while maintaining protections for the greenbelt.

We are seeking municipal feedback on potential changes in addition to those already included in Bill 150 and made by the province that affected municipalities would like to see maintained. That proposed legislation provides us with an opportunity to reset our relationship with our municipal partners. It recognizes that municipalities are in the best position to understand the unique needs and concerns of their communities.

While we are certainly interested in hearing from the municipalities on provincial changes they’d like to see kept, our government has proposed to maintain a handful of provincial changes under this legislation. These are changes that directly support provincial priorities. For example, changes related to the greenbelt are among those we are proposing to maintain. Similarly, we are also proposing that provincial-official-plan modifications be kept to protect the Niagara Escarpment Plan area from incompatible uses. The Niagara Escarpment, just like the Oak Ridges moraine and the protected countryside, forms an important part of the greenbelt area. So you see, Speaker, two pieces of legislation before this House are reinforcing greenbelt protections while reinforcing public trust in our land use planning processes.

Speaker, in resetting our relationship with our municipal partners, these pieces of legislation are recognizing that we all share the same fundamental goals: to confront Ontario’s housing crisis; to create sustainable, livable communities; and to do this by working together as partners in a manner that maintains and reinforces the public trust. An indication of the buy-in we have received is that almost all of our 50 largest and fastest-growing municipalities have committed in writing to their provincially assigned housing targets. In turn, the province has given the mayors of 46 Ontario municipalities strong-mayor powers as another tool to help get shovels in the ground faster.

I continue to encourage all municipalities to commit to their provincially assigned housing targets. We want Ontario to be a place where everyone—including newcomers, young families and seniors—can afford to call somewhere in Ontario home.

We’ve also heard loud and clear from communities that our main focus should be on building housing on land that is already within urban boundaries. This is land that can typically be developed faster because of proximity to existing or planned infrastructure—the roads, utilities and community services. So we are working with our municipal partners to unleash housing potential within their boundaries. At the same time, we have doubled down on infrastructure projects that support these many initiatives.

Speaker, as I said earlier, our intent with this proposed legislation and with the proposed Planning Statute Law Amendment Act is to write a new chapter on land use planning in Ontario. Our commitment to effective, transparent and community-focused land use planning complements other key goals of our government—that is, building at least 1.5 million homes by 2031. To some, these two objectives might seem at odds with one another, but our government is nimble, innovative and capable of balancing growth with sustainability and protections with prosperity.

Speaker, I’d like to talk about some of the ways we are working with our partners to build more homes faster. Since we took office, our government has introduced four housing supply action plans to ensure that economic and population growth are paired with rapid growth in housing. These plans address the full continuum of housing. This includes affordable, community, market and rental, high-rise, low-rise, long-term care—the full range to meet the needs of Ontarians. The plan put forward is a comprehensive range of actions to get shovels in the ground faster. We’re reducing red tape that slows construction and pushes home prices even higher. We are making development costs more predictable and reducing municipal fees and charges on priority types of housing. We’re permitting more gentle density as of right—in other words, without the need to apply for rezoning to allow for additional residential units. We’re promoting building up and around transit. And we’re encouraging thinking outside the box on ways to build more homes; for example, laneway houses and modular construction.

Just last week, we convened more than 75 organizations, including municipal partners, as part of Ontario’s first-ever annual housing forum. Together, we discussed how we can continue to get more shovels in the ground sooner and build more homes faster. The insights gathered at the forum will help inform our next housing supply action plan next year. The forum focused on four main themes or four pillars. The first was building housing-enabling infrastructure: the roads, the utilities and the amenities essential for new development. Next, we discussed barriers to the missing middle—thinking of this as this gap in housing options that exists between single, detached homes and high-rise buildings. A further topic was ensuring housing meets the needs of all Ontarians—what we build, how we build, and where we build. And finally, we looked at ways to leverage innovations like modular housing.

It really was a great convention, a great gathering. I called it a cross-pollination of ideas. With all stakeholders together, we got some great insights that, again, are going to provide scale and are going to provide speed to our next housing supply action plan. This type of pragmatic, realistic suggestions that people with front-line experience and expertise provided so well is important. This collaborative and solutions-based forum will be invaluable as our government works on its next housing supply action plan, delivering more homes, built faster, throughout Ontario.

As I mentioned earlier, municipalities are critical partners for our government as we help communities get shovels in the ground faster and work to build more homes.

This past August, we launched the Building Faster Fund to reward municipalities that build homes. This is a three-year, $1.2-billion program to provide funding to municipalities, and it’s based on their performance against assigned municipal housing targets. The Building Faster Fund can be used to help pay for the infrastructure that supports housing development—because you can’t have housing without the infrastructure to support it. We’re talking here about infrastructure like roads, water, waste water, and related costs to support community growth. While, in total, there are 50 municipalities with housing targets, I should also add that the program reserves some of the funding for small, rural and northern communities that have not yet been assigned a housing target. The fund has $400 million to distribute each year for the next three years, obviously totalling $1.2 billion, and the allocation to each eligible municipality’s portion of the $400 million will be determined by their share of the overall provincial housing supply goal. A municipality’s performance will be evaluated by how close they come to their assigned annual target when comparing the number of housing starts and additional residential units they manage to the beginning in a given calendar year. Municipalities can access a portion of their allocation if they achieve 80% or more of their annual target, and those exceeding their target will be eligible to receive additional funding. Municipalities falling short of achieving at least 80% of their annual target will not receive any funding. Funding from this program will begin to flow in 2024-25.

Speaker, you can’t have housing without the roads, water and waste water to support it. In short, housing and infrastructure go hand in hand. That’s why we recently announced our new Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund. This fund will invest a further $200 million over three years to help municipalities repair, rehabilitate and expand their critical drinking water, waste water and stormwater infrastructure. This responds directly to our municipal partners’ needs and wants. They told us they needed more funding options to meet the growing demand for infrastructure in their communities. Municipalities need to be able to service the new homes we need them to build, and they’re strategic partners to get shovels in the ground. This fund will help build stronger, more prosperous communities.

And there’s more, Speaker. In our fall economic statement, we announced the launch of the Ontario Infrastructure Bank. This will enable public sector pension plans, other trusted institutional investors and Indigenous communities to become even more involved in large-scale infrastructure projects right across this province. Through a new arm’s-length, board-governed agency, this plan will work.

I’d like to take this opportunity to repeat our government’s call to the federal government. We’d like them to come and join us on a new federal-provincial infrastructure fund to help us meet our infrastructure needs—so badly needed throughout the province.

Our federal government partners have heeded our call to help people in Ontario needing access to rental housing. We are working closely with them to increase the supply of purpose-built rentals. Ontario is working to remove the full 8% of the provincial portion of the harmonized sales tax on qualifying new, purpose-built rental housing. Removing the HST will make it easier and cheaper to build this important type of housing in Ontario, and we’re hoping this measure will help spur more construction of badly needed rental units.

Speaker, this list of innovations and incentives I have discussed are already making a difference in helping us build more homes Ontarians need and deserve. We are proving that governments committed to collaborating with partners and the public can successfully develop and protect land, even in the face of the housing crisis that we have today.

By supporting our proposed Greenbelt Statute Law Amendment Act, the members of this House have the opportunity to help us write a new chapter on land use planning in Ontario—one that resets the boundaries of the greenbelt, that restores all of the properties that were redesignated or removed in 2022, that protects greenbelt lands, that reinvigorates it by keeping the 9,400 acres that were also added, that remakes how changes to its boundaries can be made in the future, that reviews it through a non-partisan lens—I repeat: that reviews it through a non-partisan lens—and that rebalances it with our commitment to build at least 1.5 million homes by 2031 in a way that maintains and reinforces public trust.

I will now turn it over to the parliamentary assistant.

Today, it’s my pleasure and privilege to rise for the third reading of our government’s proposed Planning Statute Law Amendment Act, 2023. I’ll be sharing the government’s lead-off time today with the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Speaker, it would be helpful to look at the bigger picture in which this legislation has been brought forward. When our government took office in 2018, it very quickly became apparent that Ontario is facing a severe housing shortage. This isn’t something unique to Ontario. Indeed, the rest of Canada and many other G7 economies are facing similar challenges. Ontario remains the engine of the Canadian economy. It is our economic brand for people all over the world.

Speaker, many of us in this House have stories of family members coming to Ontario to build a better life. I think of my parents and their forefathers; my mother was from the Ottawa Valley, just like the member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke—one of the founding fathers, actually, of the city of Pembroke. And why they came was for opportunity. My father—on his side of the family—came from England to build a better life right here in Toronto. An important part of that dream was to own their own farm, own their own home, own a place where they could raise their family. And with a decent job and watching the pennies, it was attainable for most people.

But today, things are much different. The math simply doesn’t work for first-time homebuyers.

I have an example to share. I’m one of four boys. Each of us was able to buy our own house at a very young age and make the down payments, get into the mortgage world, and make payments and build equity in our home, knowing it would go up in value over time. Unfortunately, every one of our daughters and sons in our family has not been able to get that job done yet. It’s wrong. We need to change it, and that’s what this government is faced with doing and will continue to do in a very prudent way.

People with good jobs are being priced out of the market. Even families with two good incomes find it impossible to get onto the housing ladder and to make it work. At the same time, rental accommodation is desperately scarce. Even though we’ve seen new rental starts and builds year over year up 43.5%—or nearly 15,000 new units—rental accommodation still is desperately scarce.

Affordable rental apartments were a rite of passage for young people just starting out and making their way in the world, in Ontario and Canada, for newcomers adjusting to life in Canada, or for seniors who want to downsize and stay in the community they raised their families and want to continue to live in. But the construction of new rentals has virtually ground to a halt up until the last year. People avoided investment in rentals because it just wasn’t profitable. The result is a generation of young adults being forced to live in their parents’ basements or people making do with less as their rent costs more.

Speaker, we know that demand on our existing housing supply will only intensify. More than 500,000 people moved to the province in 2022 alone. In my adult lifetime, I’ve seen the population of this province more than double. Recent projections show that as many as four million additional people will move to Ontario by 2031, making this province nearly 20 million people in total. In 2022, Ontario’s population was just over 15 million people, and by 2046, that figure is expected to be north of 21 million souls; that’s almost 44% growth. In fact, some of my colleagues in the GTHA will say that in the next 10 years the GTHA itself will be the size of Ontario today. In a little more than two decades from now, we have an opportunity to change our housing market conditions as they sit.

There’s a very good reason why people are moving to Ontario in droves, by the millions: It’s opportunity, it’s promise, and it’s about building a better life, just like the generations before us who built Ontario and who built Canada.

Our government’s open-for-business approach is attracting investment and spurring job creation. Businesses of all sizes are setting up shop. Last year, 18,000 businesses opened right here in Ontario, representing 41% of the Canadian total. Good things happen in Ontario. Since we took office in 2018, over 700,000 jobs have been created; where many were lost, we see job growth continuing on the rise.

We want the province to thrive, to be a place where people can come to build a better life and raise a family. To match this bold growth, we need a bold plan to build more housing. That’s why our government is determined to work with our partners to build at least 1.5 million homes by 2031.

Speaker, this picture I paint, one of severe housing shortage coupled with a strong economy and growing population, illustrates why our government has placed building more homes front and centre. Since taking office, our government has brought forward four housing supply action plans. The plans have helped get shovels in the ground faster to build the full range of housing to meet the needs of all Ontarians—this includes affordable, community, market and rental, high-rise, low-rise and long-term-care housing. We’ve made good progress, with housing starts returning to levels not seen since the 1980s.

The severity of the housing challenge Ontario faces was the driver behind our government’s original plans to open up more land for housing development. One of the ways we sought to do this was by expanding some urban boundaries through the official plan process. But as has been acknowledged publicly, these decisions may not have been made in the way that supported our goal of building 1.5 million homes while balancing the needs and priorities of local communities and instilling public trust.

That is why our government introduced Bill 150, the Planning Statute Law Amendment Act, 2023. This proposed legislation would reverse provincial changes made in November 2022 and April 2023 to official plans and the official plan amendments in 12 municipalities. Those are the cities of Barrie, Belleville, Guelph, Hamilton, Ottawa, Peterborough, and Wellington county, and the regional municipalities of Halton, Niagara, Peel, Waterloo and York. The reversal includes changes to urban boundaries while maintaining protections for the greenbelt. This really is a reset for the government to work with our municipal partners so that we can remain focused on working together.

Speaker, let’s look more closely at how the proposed legislation would work. The reversal of the official plan decisions made by the province would be retroactive to the original date they were made, either on November 4, 2022, or April 11, 2023. Construction that has already received a building permit since that time would be able to continue. Applications already in progress seeking planning permissions—for example, zoning bylaw amendments or plans of subdivision—would continue to be processed. These in-process applications would need to conform to the municipality’s official plan, approved under the Planning Statute Law Amendment Act, 2023.

As we have discussed, the proposed legislation would reverse changes to urban boundaries while maintaining protections for the greenbelt. However, through the legislation, we are proposing to maintain a limited number of provincial changes to the official plans. These instances include changes the province made to protect the greenbelt, to protect public health and safety, and to align with existing provincial legislation and regulations. The parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing will be further exploring these retained modifications in his remarks, in a few minutes.

We recognize that, in some cases, more than a year has passed since the plans were first approved. That is why we have a 45-day engagement with municipalities. This ends on December 7, 2023. We anticipate that the impacted municipalities, as well as affected lower-tier municipalities, will submit comments and provide information on proposed updates.

We wrote to the affected municipalities on November 2,and asked them to submit comments and information on the projects that are in progress. We also wanted them to bring forward requests for provincial modifications that they would like to see maintained from the original decision. More specifically, we asked for information on projects where construction has already begun based on the official plan or official plan amendment decisions—particularly those projects that are directly enabled by the provincial changes that were made to the plan, and we asked for more information related to these changes that the municipality would like made to that official plan, based on the modifications the province had previously made and which the municipality supports.

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs will then assess the items brought forward by municipalities in a consistent way, based on criteria. For example, the ministry may consider items such as whether the change is consistent with provincial policies—for example, increasing housing supply or boosting density around transit—or whether the change might resolve the conflict with provincial legislation or regulations, or if the change might be needed to address a public health and safety concern, or changes may be needed to address a provincial priority project—for example, a long-term-care home or a transit-oriented community. If the proposed change meets the criteria to be included in the official plan, the province will consult with the municipality and explore the most effective way to implement it.

People are understandably passionate about the communities they serve, and we acknowledge that time and attention lately have been focused on ensuring we’re living up to the standards that people expect of all of us.

Our approach, which I believe is more productive, is not to focus on those things we disagree on, but rather to focus on the things we agree on with respect to official plans.

I’m happy to report that this bill has generally been received by the different parties we work with in a positive way.

Shortly after we announced we would be reversing the official plan decisions, we received a thoughtful and constructive letter from Colin Best, president of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. Mr. Best outlined the association’s thoughts on how the municipalities and the province could work best together. Mr. Best said, “We commend the government for making efforts to ensure that these changes are made in consultation with municipalities and that considerations are being made to ensure that no unintended consequences arise from the proposed reversal.”

The 45-day consultation window I mentioned earlier will ensure affected municipalities have their say as we finalize the official plans. We will evaluate the feedback from the consultation to determine the appropriate next steps, potentially, including further legislation or other actions.

Also, Niagara region chair Jim Bradley was quoted in the media, saying, “I want to commend Minister Calandra and the provincial government for making that decision and reviewing the official plans, not just ours but numerous municipalities right across the province.” Those comments show that we are on the right track with this legislation and with the general reset that we have been working to achieve.

Speaker, the proposed Planning Statute Law Amendment Act, 2023, would introduce immunity provisions to help mitigate legal risk for municipalities and the province resulting from this legislation. The proposed immunity provisions would apply to all matters related to modifications under the act affecting 12 municipalities’ official plan matters.

Bill 150 would also amend the Planning Act to introduce immunity provisions related to the making, amending or revoking of ministerial zoning orders.

Bill 150, the Planning Statute Law Amendment Act, 2023, is about working effectively with our municipal partners. It’s about rebuilding trust so we can continue to focus on building more homes right across Ontario. Our government wants to ensure that people have ready access to a home that suits them, day in and day out. Whether that’s home ownership or a rental apartment, this is another step on the important pathway to helping Ontarians realize their dream of affordable, accessible housing.

Thank you for your attention, Speaker.

With that, I would hand it over to the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.