I’d like to thank my honourable colleague the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for all the great work that he has done, and certainly for sharing his time with me today.

Madam Speaker, I’ll be sharing the remainder of the time that I have with the incredible parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, who has done amazing work in his role as parliamentary assistant to the minister.

I’m very proud to have the opportunity to stand in the House today and speak to our government’s proposed Better Municipal Governance Act.

I want to begin by reiterating that this government was re-elected in June with a clear mandate to build more homes in the province. The reason this government was re-elected is because the people of Ontario have faith in this party and in this Premier to be able to get the job done.

We have been working tirelessly, since we first took office, to resolve the housing crisis brought on by the lack of preparation and the inaction by the previous government. The focus on building more homes is a shared priority among the province and municipalities. It’s no secret that the shortage of homes we’re experiencing is one of the biggest issues facing our municipalities. With this shared goal, I’m confident in the successes our collaborative efforts will achieve. We’re fighting for the same thing. We’re all fixated on getting more shovels in the ground faster, on building more housing for all Ontarians, and on building homes for generations to come. I stand here today in full support of our better municipal governance legislation because it will help us fulfill the promise we made to the people of this province. This is yet another step we’re taking to achieve this goal.

This problem, the lack of available homes, is an issue affecting every single Ontarian. From constituents in my riding to those in every community across this province, every person is feeling the repercussions of this crisis—newcomers entering this province with hopes of achieving the dream of owning a home, young families trying to plant roots and begin their lives. Everyone is trying to achieve the same dream of home ownership. That’s why we need to use all the tools and resources available to us to help bring this dream back within reach for all hard-working Ontarians.

When I think about who our government is doing this for, I think of every person I’ve spoken to and every constituent I’ve met with. I think about the population of Ontario as a whole and all the people we promised to help one day have a place in our province that they can call home. We were re-elected with a clear mandate to get 1.5 million homes built over the next 10 years, and we will not disappoint.

I’ve been in this position now for about five months. I’ve travelled the province and have listened to the people. And throughout my time, and regardless of where I go, whether it’s London to Ottawa, Kenora to Windsor, Toronto to Thunder Bay and everywhere in between, one message is clear: It must be all hands on deck to build homes, and we need our municipal partners at the table as well. The experts agree.

For example, the Toronto Region Board of Trade posted on their website earlier this fall that the region’s “housing shortage is making our labour shortage worse, creating far-reaching economic consequences.” They continued by saying, “When our region is unaffordable, businesses struggle to grow and thrive and it may soon be near impossible to attract net new business and investment.” We agree with that. We agree that now is the time to get homes built, and we agree with them as they continue to call on municipal leaders to work with us, to deliver the solutions needed to build more housing across the region.

Another expert opinion is that of Nadia Todorova, executive director of Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario. She recently said, “The housing crisis has been a prominent issue in municipal elections ... and leaders need to do everything possible to ensure the cities can address the shortage.” She went on to say, “Key things we know will help reduce wait times and costly delays ... are to speed up the development approvals process.” This concern regarding the lengthy development approvals process is a major focus of this legislation. Our bill will help to streamline approvals at the municipal council level, because we know there’s just too much duplication and delay in the system right now. There is a better way to get things done, and that is what we’re bringing forward in this legislation.

We know that one third of Ontario’s growth over the next decade is expected to happen here in Toronto and in Ottawa. If passed, the Better Municipal Governance Act will add to the powers that our Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act gives to the mayors of the two cities. As the mayors of Ottawa and Toronto begin their terms in office, they will soon have more powers to break the cycle of delays in the municipal approvals process. The Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act was proclaimed to come into force just a few short weeks ago. It empowers Toronto and Ottawa mayors to bring our shared municipal and provincial priorities forward by building a team—a team which will help get shovels in the ground faster for residential housing development and the infrastructure that would support it.

To be specific, the Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act makes changes to the City of Toronto Act to empower its mayor. And for Ottawa, changes to the Municipal Act—along with supporting regulation—empower the mayor of Ottawa. Because of the Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, the mayors of Ottawa and Toronto now have the ability to appoint a chief administrative officer, as well as the authority to hire certain department heads for their municipalities. They can also establish identified committees, as well as appoint the chairs and vice-chairs of those committees. But remember, they do not have the ability to hire or fire the chief of police, the medical officer of health, the integrity commissioner, the chief building official or others that are described in the legislation. We believe that giving the mayors of Ottawa and Toronto these powers to create and reorganize city departments will help them better address the current needs of their rapidly growing communities.

Speaker, we want to make sure that the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa have the tools they need to get more housing built. Through the legislation we’re proposing, we’d have the ability to give them the powers to propose bylaws related to the provincial priorities that we’ve set out and to pass these bylaws if more than one third of the members of council vote in favour. If passed, the proposed legislation will allow the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to make regulations that put in place the rules for using this new bylaw power. The minister could, for instance, impose limits and conditions or set out procedural rules for proposing a bylaw. I will emphasize here that this bylaw power is a tool that can be used to deliver on our shared provincial and municipal priorities. These priorities will be set out in regulation and would include working towards a target of building 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years and building the infrastructure to support these new homes, which includes expanding the footprints of transit-oriented communities so more people can live and work near the convenience of public transit.

Let me place the emphasis again on shared priorities to help remind the House that, on municipal election day this last October 24, housing was the biggest issue many constituents in communities across the province were facing. And yet we know that the bold action we’re proposing to address the supply of housing has been met with criticism from some municipal councillors—with some critics going so far as to say that our proposals in this bill are undemocratic.

Here’s our perspective: We trust democratically elected officials to use their best judgment, and it is in our best interest to work with local governments to meet our housing goals together.

Toronto mayor John Tory’s office has said that he “supports this update to the strong-mayor powers that will only apply to items deemed a provincial priority and that he also deems a Toronto priority.”

Speaker, I ask you to please bear in mind that these powers can only be used where, in the mayor’s opinion, proposing the bylaw could advance the provincial priorities that will be defined in the regulations. This is all because urgent action is needed to address Ontario’s housing crisis. Too many families are already struggling with housing and the rising cost of living, and our proposed changes would provide the democratically elected mayors of Toronto and Ottawa with additional tools to deliver on these shared provincial-municipal priorities. This isn’t undemocratic, as the opposition would have you believe. This is about empowering the municipal leaders who are close to their communities.

Yes, as the Minister of Municipal Affairs indicated earlier, these proposals are bold, but they reflect the housing crisis that’s facing our province today. As you’ve heard the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing say throughout our government’s tenure, we need to cut through the NIMBYism and the “build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone” attitudes that are now so pervasive in Ontario. In fact, a spokesman for Toronto mayor John Tory recently said something similar in a statement about the mayor asking for expanded powers. He said that they were needed “to make sure we can get more housing built as quickly as possible, to avoid NIMBYism, and to help make sure this new system works as efficiently as possible.”

The C.D. Howe Institute also agrees with our approach. They acknowledge that “every ... homeowner has a financial incentive to have fewer competing homes on the market.” This means that when new developments are proposed, there is usually someone who wants to stop it. As a result, if enough residents want to halt it, then the local councillors look for a way to stop the new construction.

This simply cannot be allowed to happen anymore. The status quo is simply not working. We cannot allow a small yet loud minority of NIMBYists to prevent an entire generation from being able to enter the housing market. So we’re proposing this addition to the strong-mayor powers in order to provide some certainty that housing will get built. As the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing said, this is why we took decisive action. We did it to provide municipal leaders the tools they need to plan for future population growth and get more homes built faster. And yes, we knew there would be opposition to these proposed actions, but the fact is that we were elected to make tough decisions and to ensure that our fastest-growing communities are supported in both the short term and long term.

Speaker, I hope that critics will remember what I say next. The Better Municipal Governance Act would, if passed, have the same contingencies in place as the first strong-mayors bill did. We have accounted for the possibility of an abuse of power, and we’ve maintained the existing municipal accountability framework, including rules about conflict of interest. On top of that, heads of council would also be required to provide their rationale when using the proposed new bylaw power. This is all because we have built a strong system of checks and balances into the Strong Mayors, Building Homes legislation. And remember that council members are already, and are still, subject to legislated accountability and transparency rules—and that includes the mayor.

The Strong Mayors, Building Homes legislation also made changes to the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. If you recall, the mayors of Ottawa and Toronto would not be able to use the new powers where financial conflict exists, and they are required to declare any financial interests related to the use of their new powers.

Put simply, we trust elected municipal officials to best reflect the values of the people who democratically elected them. And by extension, we trust those leaders to use these new powers judiciously when it comes to moving our shared priorities forward.

It bears repeating that the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing will also have the power to set out procedural rules for proposing a bylaw. We will also be monitoring how the mayors use this new power and, if necessary, will step in to set limits and conditions, or to clarify when it can be used.

Empowering the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa to work more effectively with the province to increase the supply of housing will help us get the politics out of planning and speed up approval timelines. The mayors in these municipalities are being asked to cut red tape and get more homes built faster so that more families can realize the dream of attainable home ownership.

We’ve all heard that the way residential housing projects are currently approved in Ontario takes far too long and is way too complex. A big reason for that is because builders need to obtain different levels of approvals, which can take months, if not years. BILD, the Building Industry and Land Development Association, cites that municipal approval timelines range from 10 up to 34 months, with municipal approval timelines in the GTA being among the worst of major municipalities across the country. Study after study has also found that development approvals and appropriate zoning are often delayed or hindered because of opposition from some members on local municipal councils. Some projects are even abandoned altogether. So even if the project finally gets the go-ahead, the damage has already been done, and it’s everyday Ontarians in search of a home who are paying the cost. Ontarians are counting on us to fix that. And as I’ve said many times here and as the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has said, we are simply not going to let them down.

Recently, the federal government announced that Ontario could be home to approximately 300,000 newcomers by 2025; that’s over half of the 500,000 federal immigration target. That adds to the urgency of our bill and makes clear why it’s so important for us to look at every measure to increase the supply of housing.

Our government promised bold and ambitious action to end the housing supply crisis and to help all Ontarians, including newcomers, find a safe place to call home. While our new More Homes Built Faster Act, which received royal assent last week, addresses many of the barriers that cause housing delays, the changes we’re changing in the Better Municipal Governance Act are further steps forward in our mission, because the municipal councils play such a crucial role in determining the housing supply. We believe that our proposed changes will help municipalities better meet the needs of their rapidly growing communities and help to drive increased housing supply in some of Ontario’s biggest and fastest-growing municipalities.

I began today by saying that our proposed Better Municipal Governance Act is necessary, timely and, if passed, would be another important step forward in addressing Ontario’s undersupply of housing. Giving the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa the enhanced bylaw power that we are proposing would allow them to remove barriers and find solutions for the housing supply shortage in their communities and would make them true partners in addressing the housing crisis.

Madam Speaker, I really appreciate the opportunity, and I would now like to call upon the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to further elaborate on this very necessary piece of proposed legislation. As a former mayor himself, I know that his insights into this legislation will make an important contribution to this debate. When I was in Thunder Bay with the parliamentary assistant, we travelled across his riding and met with many, many residents who were telling us the same thing: They were telling us to keep going. They were telling us that they now have a champion in the member from Thunder Bay–Atikokan. And they said, “Thank you to your government for what you’re doing. We appreciate it. We now have a strong voice in the government.” So I thank him for the great work that he’s doing. And I thank the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for his leadership.

I look forward to the continuation of debate.

I want to thank the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for sharing his time with me today. I can tell you, Speaker, that I speak on behalf of my constituents of Aurora–Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill, and I thank him for his leadership and his relentless pursuit to make sure that the housing crisis we are facing in this province is dealt with.

Thank you very much, Minister Clark, for all that you’re doing.

Madam Speaker, as I mentioned, his advocacy for Bill 23 and his presentation—that was very clear that there is a desperate need for these measures in this proposed legislation.

It is my privilege to expand on some of the details of our government’s proposed More Homes Built Faster Act.

Before I begin, I do want to reiterate the minister’s point that our government has been seeking feedback on several points of our proposed legislation. We’ve been listening to stakeholders and consulting with the public.

As the minister also said—it’s very important for me to repeat, Madam Speaker—this bill is based on recommendations from the industry and stakeholder experts of the Housing Affordability Task Force. The task force was created in December of last year and chaired by Jake Lawrence, the CEO and group head of global banking and markets at Scotiabank. In his role, he worked alongside a diverse range of experts in non-profit housing, Indigenous housing, real estate, home builders, financial markets, and economics. They all brought their extensive knowledge and expertise together to provide recommendations that we are using as a road map to help solve the housing crisis. We used their recommendations as the basis for the proposed More Homes Built Faster Act.

This proposed legislation is a very important part of our long-term strategy to increase the housing supply in our province and to provide attainable housing options for hard-working Ontarians and their families.

Speaker, a major objective of this bill is to address the missing-middle housing in our communities by increasing gentle density. First, we plan to do this by building on a suite of as-of-right residential tools which Ontario has provided to municipalities since 2019.

We are also proposing changes to the Planning Act to create a new province-wide standard threshold for what’s allowed to be built, and we intend to do this by strengthening the additional-residential-unit framework.

If passed, our proposed legislation would allow, as of right, up to three residential units on most land that is currently zoned for one home in residential areas. This would be allowed without the need for a municipal bylaw amendment. Depending on the property in question, these three units could all be within the existing residential structure, or, for example, they could take the form of a main home with an in-law or basement suite, or a laneway or garden home. Of course, these new units would need to be compliant with the building code and with the relevant municipal bylaws. I’m proud to say that these units would be exempt from development charges and parkland dedication fees.

We’re also proposing changes to the Planning Act to ensure that complete and sustainable communities are built near and centred around transit hubs. This complements the historic investment our government has made in transit expansion in communities across the province. The changes we propose to the Planning Act would help move us forward towards as-of-right zoning, to meet minimum density targets for projects that are planned to be near major transit stations. If passed, this would reduce approval timelines and get shovels in the ground faster. Our goal is that once the key development policies for major transit stations are approved, municipalities would then have one year to update their zoning bylaws to meet those minimum density targets.

Speaker, our proposed More Homes Built Faster Act would, if passed, help to create the conditions for building more affordable and purpose-built rental housing right across the province. We’re proud to be proposing regulatory changes that would give certainty around inclusionary zoning rules. To build more affordable housing, we’ve proposed a maximum 25-year affordability period, a 5% cap on the number of inclusionary zoning units, and a standardized approach to determining the price for rent of an affordable unit under an inclusionary zoning program.

We also propose to support the creation of very specific, very needed types of housing, such as attainable housing, affordable housing, rental housing and non-profit housing, all by reducing government fees. We know that government charges and fees significantly impact the cost of housing, including certain attainable housing units and non-profit housing developments. As such, we propose to exempt these types of housing from municipal development fees, parkland dedication levies and community benefit charges.

We also propose to reduce development charges for building new rental units. And to help incentivize the development of family-sized rental units, we will ensure deeper development charge discounts would be provided.

My colleague the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing will be going into more detail about our proposed changes to these fees.

Speaker, our proposed More Homes Built Faster Act includes many changes to streamline the bureaucratic processes that can delay the construction of much-needed housing. In it, we propose changes to the Planning Act that would reduce the number of requirements for small projects and speed up the approval process for other housing projects. We also propose to change the role of upper-tier municipalities in the greater Golden Horseshoe, to further speed up the planning approval process.

An exciting inclusion in our action plan is the creation of a new program to be delivered by Infrastructure Ontario with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the Ministry of Infrastructure to support the dream of home ownership for all Ontarians across the province. Our proposed new program would make good use of surplus or underutilized land and take advantage of commercial innovation and partnerships to rapidly build attainable homes in mixed-income communities.

Let’s be clear: A home is the biggest purchase that an average person ever makes. It’s the culmination of hard work, perseverance and, for many, it means they have truly achieved the Canadian dream.

Buying a home and arranging financing is stressful enough as it is without having to worry about falling victim to unethical practices from a builder or a vendor of a home when you’re purchasing one. Our government, therefore, proposes to further strengthen the consumer protections that are in place for new home buyers. And we propose to double the maximum fines for builders and vendors of new homes who unfairly cancel projects or terminate purchase agreements. These proposed changes would be under the New Home Construction Licensing Act. If passed, they would increase the existing maximum financial penalties from $25,000 to $50,000 per infraction. And let’s make clear that there would be no limit to additional monetary benefit penalties that could be imposed, as our proposed legislation would retroactively impose fines for contraventions that occurred on or after April 14, 2022. These changes, if passed, would also enable the Home Construction Regulatory Authority to use funds from these penalties to provide money back to affected consumers. This would make Ontario the first jurisdiction in Canada to provide these types of funds to consumers. If our proposed legislation is passed, the amendments to the New Home Construction Licensing Act would come into force in early 2023.

This past January, our government hosted the Ontario-municipal housing summit. At that summit, Ontario’s mayors expressed concerns that lands planned for residential development in their communities are sitting empty. They said no development is occurring because homebuilders are taking too long to complete their planning applications. So we looked into it and consulted on the issue of land speculation. We wanted to determine just how detrimental this is to the housing supply goals of our government. We will continue to gather input in the coming months to assess the impact on housing supply, and we won’t be shy about taking action to continue to speed up the planning approvals process.

Another piece of legislation that our proposed bill would amend, if passed, is the Ontario Heritage Act. These changes would increase the threshold for heritage designation and update guidelines for the conservation of provincial heritage properties. Make no mistake, Speaker, these changes would continue to support the conservation of heritage resources that are important to Ontarians, but they will provide the clarity and flexibility needed to ensure that critical housing and other priority projects can move forward in a timely manner. On top of this, until the end of December, our government will continue consulting on how it manages Ontario’s natural heritage so we can improve the way we manage the province’s wetlands while supporting sustainable growth and development.

Speaker, we’re also consulting with stakeholders and the public on how to integrate A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe with the provincial policy statement. Our goal is a single, province-wide planning policy document. This consultation is seeking input on how to address the overlapping planning policies that are currently in place right across our province. And we’ll continue to work towards developing a more streamlined provincial policy document that is easier to implement and that gives municipalities more flexibility so that they can address their housing needs faster.

Speaker, it’s all hands on deck to get housing built, and it will require the partnership of all levels of government. As a result, we’re calling on the federal government to come to the table and work with us on potential GST/HST incentives for housing. This could take the form of rebates, exemptions or deferrals of GST and HST to support new home ownership right across the province and new rental housing developments. As I and Minister Clark have stated on many, many occasions, no one level of government can solve today’s housing crisis alone. Indeed, all levels of government—federal, provincial, municipal—need to work together if we are to get more homes built and to address the housing crisis of our province.

Speaking of taxes, let me talk for a moment about property tax assessments, which are currently established using the same methodology as regular market rental properties. We intend to explore possible refinements to the methodology that is used to assess affordable rental housing to better reflect the reduced rents collected by these housing providers. In addition, we would consult with our municipal partners on potential approaches to reducing the current property tax burden on multi-residential apartment buildings in the province.

Similarly, while we’re on the topic of taxes: This winter, if our proposed legislation is passed, we intend to consult on a policy framework that would set out the key elements of a municipal vacant home tax. As it is right now, only a handful of municipalities in Ontario have the authority to charge a vacant home tax on unoccupied residential units. We want to establish a provincial-municipal working group that would consult on a framework that could be used by interested municipalities across Ontario. This group could also be a vehicle for the province and municipalities to share information and best practices on dealing with vacant homes.

Speaker, I’m also pleased to confirm that, effective October 25, 2022, Ontario has the highest and most comprehensive Non-Resident Speculation Tax in Canada. At 25% and province-wide, this initiative is meant to further discourage foreign speculation in Ontario’s housing market.

I’m very proud of the work our government has done to get more homes built in Ontario. We understand that owning a home is the pillar of the Canadian dream—a sign of hard work, accomplishment and pride. Just as my family had the opportunity when they first came to Canada, we will not stop until the dream of home ownership is back within reach for all Ontarians. As I said before, and as the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has stated—and the parliamentary assistants and all our colleagues—everyone deserves a place to call home.

The More Homes Built Faster Act is another step forward in our work to solve the housing crisis. And it won’t be our last step. We will introduce a new housing supply action plan in each year of our mandate. We will use these plans to continue to implement the Housing Affordability Task Force’s recommendations. This will help our government deliver real and long-term solutions for the people of Ontario.

We made a promise to the people of this province that we will build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years. And I just want to make sure that it is crystal clear—make no mistake—that we are going to keep that promise.

I want to thank you very much for the opportunity, Madam Speaker.

I would now like to give the floor to the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Kevin Holland, to take it from here.

I want to thank my honourable colleague the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for sharing his time with me today. I will also be sharing the remaining time we have for second reading with the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the ever all-star MPP for Thunder Bay–Atikokan.

Interjections.

Speaker, I’m proud to speak to our government’s proposed Better Municipal Governance Act. It is a bill that is necessary, a bill that is timely, and a bill that would, if passed, be yet another step forward in solving Ontario’s housing crisis.

As the recent municipal election showed, the housing shortage Ontario is facing is at the top of people’s minds in communities right across the province. With many stakeholders pointing out the importance of getting municipal governance right, we need to make sure red tape does not block the housing we need so desperately. Study after study and expert after expert shows us that Ontario is in a housing crisis.

As an example, Kevin Crigger, the president of the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, said, “Housing affordability is one of the most significant issues facing the greater Toronto area, so it is important that it continues to be given the attention it deserves before municipal election day.”

As a member representing parts of the GTA, I can attest to how important the housing supply crisis is to my constituents, many of whom are struggling to find a home they can afford. I have heard time and again about how young people are looking to get into the housing market but simply can’t afford it, because they have to balance between saving money and putting a down payment towards a new purchase at the same time—or newcomers to the province who are ready to settle down with their families and plant roots in Ontario but find the lack of available housing a major challenge. When I think about who our government is working for and why we have made tackling the housing supply crisis such a priority, I think about these people, the ones who are only asking for the same opportunity of home ownership that the previous generation has had. We made them a promise that we would put their dream of home ownership back within reach, and as I’ve said time and time again, we’re not going to let them down.

More than one third of Ontario’s growth over the next decade is expected to happen in Toronto and in Ottawa. That’s why we need to take action to ensure that there’s no political delay in hindering the potential that these cities offer. We need the mayors in these municipalities to cut red tape and get housing built faster so more families can realize the dream of attainable home ownership.

Developers and urban planners tell us all the time that the current way projects are approved in Ontario takes far too long and is way too complex. It can take eight to 10 years to go from acquiring undeveloped land to building housing, according to David Amborski, director of the Centre for Urban Research and Land Development at Toronto Metropolitan University. Builders need to obtain multiple approvals, which can take months, if not years, as various government departments conduct reviews and request revisions to meet planning requirements.

Speaker, a 2022 survey by the Canadian Home Builders’ Association looked at the time it takes to secure development approvals in 23 Canadian cities. The survey cited Hamilton, Toronto and Ottawa as having some of the longest timelines across Canada, ranging from 20 to 24 months, and that’s without even including the time it takes to get a building permit. A follow-up study by the association which was released this past September found that approval times for most greater Toronto area municipalities have only worsened in the years since. Ontarians are counting on us to fix that. Once again, I want to be very clear that we’re not going to let them down.

Ontarians were clear, in the last election, that they want us to take bold actions to increase the housing supply.

And let’s not forget, the recent federal announcement to increase immigration targets will bring in 500,000 newcomers by 2025. As the Premier has said, it is anticipated that some 300,000 of those newcomers will hope to settle right here in Ontario. That adds to the urgency of our bill and makes it clear why it’s so important that we put forward policies that will help us build more homes and build them faster.

If passed, the Better Municipal Governance Act will add to the powers that our Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act gives to the mayors of both Ottawa and Toronto. As the mayors of Ottawa and Toronto begin their new terms of office, they will soon have more powers to break the cycle of delays in the municipal approvals process.

Speaker, this bill builds on the Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, which was given royal assent just a few short weeks ago. That act and the associated regulations provide the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa with additional governance tools and increased powers to align municipal decision-making with provincial priorities. They empower the mayors of Ottawa and Toronto to build a team that would help bring forward shared municipal and provincial priorities, which will mean that mayors can use their new powers to get shovels in the ground faster for more housing, and that they can get shovels in the ground faster for the infrastructure that would support more residential developments.

Now I want to focus on the specifics of how the mayors of both Toronto and Ottawa will be able to do this. First, the act changes the City of Toronto Act to empower the mayor of Toronto, and it changes the Municipal Act, along with the supporting regulation, to empower the mayor of Ottawa. The act also outlines the tools that these mayors could access to take decisive action on our shared priorities.

The Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act gives the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa the power to hire and fire the chief administrative officer of the municipality and certain department heads. However, this does not include positions such as the clerk, the treasurer, the integrity commissioner, the chief of police, the chief building official, the medical officer of health and others set out in the legislation. In addition, the mayors of Ottawa and Toronto will have the power to create and reorganize departments in their cities so they can better address the needs of their communities. As well, the mayors can appoint the chairs and vice-chairs of identified committees and local boards and can also establish identified committees, and they will be able to direct staff to prepare proposals to support them in furthering provincial priorities.

The Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act gives the mayors of Ottawa and Toronto the ability to deliver the budget of their municipality and table it for council to consider. The respective municipal council can then propose changes to the budget if it chooses to do so. An important new power for the mayors is that these amendments would then be subject to a mayor’s veto. The system of checks and balances that we’ve built into the legislation would keep councillors engaged in the process of local government so that they can provide an important restraint on their respective mayors. Let me explain how that would work.

The municipal council of Ottawa and Toronto would be able to override the mayor’s veto of council amendments to the budget with a two-thirds majority vote. This can be done within a certain time period. Once that period of time is up, the municipality would have adopted the resulting budget. There is a similar veto-override system with regard to bylaws passed by council. A mayor can use their veto power if they are of the opinion that all or part of a bylaw passed by council could potentially interfere with a provincial priority, as identified in regulation. This could be a provincial priority such as building more housing for Ontarians—or if the bylaw prevented infrastructure needed for more homes from being built.

Speaker, as you can see, the council-override process is a counterweight in this instance. Similar to their power in regard to the budget amendments, Ottawa and Toronto councils can override a mayoral veto of bylaws related to provincial priorities with a two-thirds majority vote.

I want to make one point clear: The mayor’s new ability to veto bylaws applies only to those that the mayor believes would potentially interfere with identified provincial priorities. Simply put, we trust Ontarians to elect the leaders who best reflect the needs and values of their communities. By extension, we trust those leaders to use these new powers fairly when it comes to driving our shared priorities forward. That’s why we’re holding them accountable for their choices. As an extension of these changes, mayors are required to provide written documentation when using any of these new powers in accordance with any associated regulations.

We also made changes to the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. First, the mayors of Ottawa and Toronto are now required to declare any financial interests related to the use of their new powers. They would not be able to use the new powers where financial conflict exists. It’s also important to remember that council members are already subject to legislated accountability and transparency rules, and that includes the mayor.

Another important point I’d like to raise is that because of these new increased powers for mayors, we must ensure that voters will be able to have their say if a mayor leaves office earlier than expected. That is why a by-election is required to replace a mayor with these increased powers if the office becomes vacant. That’s distinct from the current practice in Ottawa and Toronto, or any other Ontario municipality, which is to give the council the choice of either a by-election or an appointment by council, and the existing rules for how by-elections are run would still apply.

This does not impact the flexibility that Ottawa and Toronto currently have in deciding how to fill other vacant council seats. In those cases, they still have the choice to appoint someone or, in fact, have a by-election.

Speaker, as I’ve mentioned, some of these changes to empower the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa pertain to matters of provincial priority. These provincial priorities are set out in the supporting regulations. Now I’d like to highlight what these proposed provincial priorities are.

One priority is our government’s commitment to keeping costs down and building 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years, to address the housing supply crisis. When we build more homes, we also need to consider the infrastructure that will support them.

Another provincial priority would speed up the planning, approval, construction and maintenance of infrastructure to support new and existing residential developments. This is the infrastructure that you use every day, the things that we don’t often think about but that we require. Actioning the expansion, construction and maintenance of these services is essential, and we will work to eliminate any barriers or delays that are in the way. This will help us lay the foundation for building homes now and into the future.

As well, another provincial priority involves transit-oriented communities. These are the higher-density mixed-use developments that are next to or within a short walk of transit stations and stops.

The bill we’re discussing today, the proposed Better Municipal Governance Act, will help us build on and further support the Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act in meeting the provincial priority to build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years.

Additionally, we are proposing changes that would enable the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa to propose bylaws related to the provincial priorities that we have set out. These bylaws would be passed if more than one third of the members of council vote in favour of the bylaw, and existing municipal accountability frameworks will continue to apply, including conflict-of-interest rules. As well, heads of council would also be required to provide their rationale when using the proposed powers.

If passed, the proposed legislation would allow the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to make regulations that establish the rules for the use of this new mayoral bylaw power. For example, the minister could impose limits and conditions or set out procedural rules for proposing a bylaw.

There is no doubt that these proposals seem bold, but that’s because our government promised bold action to end the housing supply crisis and to help all Ontarians find a safe place to call home.

Speaker, I began today by saying that our proposed Better Municipal Governance Act is necessary, is timely and, if passed, would be another solid step forward in addressing Ontario’s undersupply of housing. Giving strong mayors this enhanced power would allow them to remove barriers and find solutions for the housing supply shortages, and would make them true partners in addressing the housing crisis.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. I want to thank the Premier. I want to thank the parliamentary assistant to municipal affairs and housing, and every member of our caucus for all the work and the attention that they’re giving to making sure that every person in this province has a home to go to every night.

As the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has highlighted on multiple occasions in this chamber, we are in a housing crisis, one that requires bold actions, because we cannot simply leave the people of this province behind. We saw what 15 years of neglect has done to where we are here today.

Through the actions of this minister, since 2018—we saw the results last year: more housing starts than we’ve had since 1987; purpose-built rentals, 13,000 of them in the province, again, highest since 1991. These are 30-year record highs. But they’re not enough. We need to do more, because we cannot let the current generations, future generations—you think about the 500,000 new Canadians who are coming in with hopes and dreams and aspirations, like my family did when they came to Canada. This minister, our government, our Premier, has said on many occasions that letting them down is not an option. We will fight for them every single day to make sure that they have a chance at attainable home ownership.

With that, I would now like to call upon the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to further expand on the very necessary piece of proposed legislation, because, as a former mayor himself, I know that his insights into the legislation will make an important contribution to today’s debate.

Again, I want to thank my honourable colleague for that follow-up question. Speaker, at a time when Ontarians are facing a rising cost of living, we recognize the need to keep costs down for all Ontarians. It’s a concerning trend to see municipal fees and charges levied on new and affordable housing skyrocket by up to 36%. Without considering the impact fee increases have upon tenants and future homeowners, housing prices will rise and affordability will worsen.

Our proposal, if passed, will reduce the cost of residential development by freezing, reducing and slowing future growth of municipal charges. Speaker, as I’ve said before, our government will not shy away from bold and decisive action, under the leadership of this Premier, to streamline municipal approval processes and reduce costs for Ontarians entering the housing market. Like we’ve said time and time again, the previous government let down the people of this province. We will not.

Yes, absolutely she deserves it. As the second female Indigenous mayor to be elected in Ontario, Mayor Fort knows how to get results and brings an impressive background to the team. Before serving as mayor, she served as a school board trustee, library board chair, hospital board member, town councillor and Legion youth education chair. She’s also the northern zone director of the Ontario Good Roads Association.

A dedicated public servant, Mayor Fort has stood up for women as part of our government’s task force on women and the economy, where she played a leading role in ensuring women who were disproportionately affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19 were able to bounce back stronger than ever. Mayor Fort brings a unique perspective to the team, with intimate knowledge and experience of the unique needs of northern and rural Ontarians. Simply put, Mayor Fort is someone you want to have in your corner fighting for you. For those who are counting on our government to deliver results, I know she won’t stop until the job is done.

Mayor Dilkens and Mayor Fort will be complemented by team members with a range of backgrounds and expertise, all ready to work for Ontarians. We look forward to sharing details of the remaining members of the team in the coming weeks. Once the selection process is complete, the team will hold their first meeting in early fall to get to work immediately.

I have said this earlier, but it really needs to be repeated: Every Ontarian deserves a place to call home, period. Right now, the lack of attainable housing is a long-term problem in our province, and that’s why we are standing here today: because right now in Ontario, too many families are frozen out of the housing market. Too many Indigenous Ontarians, too many newcomers, too many people, too many women, too many gig-economy workers, too many people who put in an honest day’s work to achieve their dream are being shut out of the housing market. That must and will change.

We made an election promise to build 1.5 million new homes over the next 10 years so that more of these families can realize the dream of home ownership. One way we’re doing this is by introducing key legislation that will help empower the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa. This will help drive provincial priorities forward in two of the province’s largest cities: priorities like increasing the amount of available housing. We’re also doing this by establishing the Housing Supply Action Plan Implementation Team to provide advice on market housing initiatives, a team dedicated to action and results. Their expertise will help us continue to work with our partners to deliver a new housing supply action plan every year over four years. This will help us deliver those real, long-term housing solutions we need here in Ontario.

We’re confident we will succeed, Mr. Speaker, because our government’s policies are already delivering real results. We have seen record housing construction because of the initiatives that we put forward in 2019, by this amazing minister. We will continue to make it easier for all people in Ontario to find a home that meets their needs.

Ontario is the greatest province in the best country in the world, a beacon of hope in a troubled time, a place of opportunity and prosperity, and everyone who works hard and does their part must be able to have the dream of home ownership in reach. This government, our Premier and our entire team will not stop until we get shovels in the ground to build the homes we need in order to achieve the dreams that Ontarians have for themselves, their families and their communities. Enough talk; let’s get to work.

With that, I would like to invite the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the member for Thunder Bay–Atikokan, to continue to speak to our government’s commitment to our municipal partners and housing. Thank you very much.

I’d like to thank, certainly, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for sharing his time with me today.

I’m very proud to rise in the House today as Ontario’s new Associate Minister of Housing to speak to a bill—

Interjections.

The rising cost of housing has had an impact on so many Ontarians. Families are being priced out of the market, seniors on fixed incomes worrying every month how they will be able to pay their mortgage, and too many members of our next generation feel they will never have a place of their own.

Every single day all of us show up to work here to make choices, tough choices, choices that aren’t always easy. Allow me to be crystal clear that this government will always choose the side of hard-working Ontarians. Today the government of Ontario is proposing legislation that will reinforce how committed we are in supporting our municipal partners to deliver on our shared priorities—priorities that matter to the people of Ontario; priorities such as our election promise to build 1.5 million new homes over the next 10 years.

Through this legislation, the government of Ontario will empower our municipal partners to get things done, because the people of Ontario expect nothing less. This includes helping to speed up new home constructions so that we can get more homes built quicker and make sure more families can realize the dream of home ownership. A house isn’t just four walls and a roof, it’s a home; a place for families to build their futures and make memories. Our government has the firm conviction that everyone deserves to have one of their own.

Since day one of being in power, our government has been laser-focused on tackling the province’s housing crisis. In 2019, we released our first housing supply action plan. It was called More Homes, More Choice and provided a road map to help address the housing challenges our province was facing at that time. It was a call to action on the need to build more homes to keep up with the rapidly growing population in Ontario. And it was effective. Since the plan was introduced, the province’s actions and close collaboration with municipalities have delivered results. Last year, in 2021, we saw more than 100,000 housing starts in Ontario, and that is the highest since 1987. Last year also saw more than 13,000 rental starts. Again, the most rental starts since 1991.

Despite our progress, we knew it wasn’t enough. Across the province, no matter where you went, one thing seemed to remain the same: Too many Ontarians were still finding the dream of having a place of their own out of reach. We recognized we needed to go further, so we began a three-part consultation with housing sector experts, municipalities and the public to help identify and implement real solutions to address the housing supply crisis.

First, we conducted an online public consultation through which we received more than 2,000 submissions. Second, we brought together municipalities and municipal associations to hear from leaders on the ground about what needed to be done for us to be able to build more homes. We conducted these consultations through the Ontario municipal housing summit and rural housing round table. The third part of government’s thorough consultation was the creation of the Housing Affordability Task Force.

The task force was made up of a diverse range of experts in non-profit housing, Indigenous housing, real estate, home builders, financial markets and municipal governments. We knew that for this task force to put forward the most fulsome recommendations it needed to include every voice and needed to represent all voices across the province.

Through their engagement with stakeholders, including municipalities and advocacy groups, they developed thought-provoking and detailed recommendations in their report. These recommendations ranged from proposed changes to the planning policies to ways to lower costs for development and to aligning efforts between all levels of government to incentivize building more housing.

Along with the dozens of recommendations provided by the task force, they again issued an urgent call to action. They told us that our province does not currently have enough housing to meet the needs of Ontarians, and that if we didn’t act we would not have enough housing to meet the needs of our growing population tomorrow. So we used the task force recommendations, along with other consultation feedback, to get to work and to take bold actions. We used the task force report as a foundation to craft a new housing supply action plan designed to make sure all Ontarians can find a home that meets their needs and their budgets.

We passed More Homes for Everyone, the next step to help boost housing supply in our province. The legislation laid out ways to get rid of the red tape and bureaucratic inefficiencies that are driving up the cost of homes, all while creating more housing options for renters and buyers. More Homes for Everyone delivers real solutions and addresses the province’s housing crisis.

It includes the new community infrastructure and housing accelerator, which is a tool that helps municipalities expedite approvals for housing and community infrastructure such as hospitals and community centres.

It also made changes to the site plan control decisions. Site plan control is a planning tool that municipalities use to manage development on a parcel of land. What we saw, Mr. Speaker, was that too often, politics was getting in the way of good planning. So we made sure that our plan requires local council to delegate site plan control decisions to municipal staff.

We also extended the timeline for municipalities to review the site plan applications before appeals can be launched, from 30 days to 60 days, to make sure municipalities have the time they need to review projects while preventing unnecessary delays.

In the interests of transparency, we now also require municipalities and development charge bylaw to make their annual reporting on these charges available to the public on the municipality’s website.

These are just some of the ways our comprehensive More Homes for Everyone plan is helping us to get shovels in the ground.

But we knew we couldn’t stop there. Housing affordability is one of the greatest challenges of our time and it must be treated as such. How we, as elected officials, choose to tackle this challenge over the coming years will determine whether an entire next generation will be able to own a home, start a family and build our communities to be even stronger. As a result, we must take bold, decisive action to address the housing shortage. We mustn’t be afraid to challenge the status quo, and we must work with every partner willing to help us get shovels in the ground.

We must deliver real, long-term solutions to ensure home ownership is in reach of all Ontarians. We’re going to use the Housing Affordability Task Force recommendation as a long-term road map to help us get there, a road map that will allow us to work with our partners to develop a new housing supply action plan each year over four years. This includes our municipal partners, each with unique circumstances on the ground and in their communities.

We believe taking a long-term integrated approach will give our municipal partners the time and flexibility they need to work with us to be able to achieve our ambitious goals, because solving the housing supply crisis is a long-term mission and it certainly won’t happen overnight. It requires long-term commitment, partnerships at all levels of government and a solid plan, all three of which will happen in spades.

As the minister outlined when speaking to today’s proposed legislation, Ontario is a growing province. It’s a place where good people of all backgrounds come to begin a new life. As Ontario grows, we must help communities across the province to grow as well. That includes building more attainable homes, because addressing the housing supply issues in our communities is a critical issue and we need to have success. The time for talk is over. The time for action, the time for cutting through red tape and the time for getting shovels in the ground and building the dream of home ownership is now.

To help us get there, we committed to establishing a housing supply action plan implementation team this summer. I’m honoured to stand here in this House and give you the details of this team. The team will be a formal advisory body made up of a volunteer chair and up to eight other members representing key sectors. The team will provide expert advice to the government on implementing and recommendations on the Housing Affordability Task Force. They will help us take decisive action to get more homes built and they will make ongoing improvement to our annual housing supply action plans. Mr. Speaker, they’ll be laser-focused on market housing initiatives and will provide confidential advice to the minister on an ongoing basis about measures to increase housing supply and attainability.

I want to be crystal clear: The core mandate of this team is to get the job done. No more talk, no more reports, no more committee to study the findings of a working group to study the findings of a consultation table; this team is an action team. They will examine the commitment we have made under the More Homes for Everyone plan, as well as the vision and objectives of the Housing Affordability Task Force report and help us implement that, and they will be there to react to any emerging housing priorities and issues identified by our government.

We’re going to count on the expertise of this team to weigh in on a wide array of market-housing-related issues over the next four years. This includes helping us assess any initiatives that our government is considering towards increasing market housing supply. The team will also provide feedback on the best way to roll out our planned initiatives.

Speaker, I’m a results guy. Measuring our success and constantly keeping track of our progress is crucial. As I just mentioned to you earlier, the time for talk is over, and the time for action is now. As such, team members will provide advice on how we can measure the success of our plans when it comes to increasing the amount of attainable housing. This team, made up of some of the province’s foremost experts in the housing sector, will be a crucial part in helping us reach our goal of ensuring every Ontarian has a place to call home.

Because of how serious an issue this is, we ensured that the Housing Supply Action Plan Implementation Team has access to every tool necessary to carry out their mandate. That’s why the team will be supported by topic-specific expert ad hoc consultation tables. These additional groups will include other housing experts who will weigh in on very specific topics and provide expert technical advice. They will be formed on an as-needed basis and will be dissolved once the needs of their main team are met.

In order for the Housing Supply Action Plan Implementation Team to provide its best advice to market housing initiatives, our government knew we needed a strong voice to sit at the head of the table. That’s why I’m proud to say that the minister and I will be appointing Mayor Drew Dilkens from the city of Windsor as chair. Mayor Dilkens is a fierce and strong champion for getting homes built. After a successful career as a lawyer, Mayor Dilkens stepped up to serve his community, first as a councillor before being elected as mayor in 2014. He understands the challenges families face accessing the housing market, and is ready to get to work to help our government get shovels in the ground. Undoubtedly, his expertise and passion for solving the housing supply crisis will be a major asset as the team begins its work.

We’re also proud to announce Mayor Cheryl Fort of the town of Hornepayne as the vice-chair.

Interjection.