How Bill 23 Good Governance & Municipalities
Years of Planning, Down the Drain
City and neighbourhood planning is a meticulous process that takes into account all the factors that make a community great. Each city plan is often a multi-year plan, sometimes stretching out 5-10 years of projected development.
Bill 23 takes a sledgehammer to those plans, ignoring not just the work done by professionals to encourage sustainable growth supported by good amenities, transit, and services.
Bill 23 effectively allows communities to be developed without any thought of how residents will be served by all the amenities they expect after they move in.
Bypass Local Decision Making
For all the talk about respect for taxpayers and municipal governments, Doug Ford crafted Bill 23 to effectively circumvent city and town councils and letting anyone with a developer permit to ignore any and all rules and plans set out by a city.
Your elected city and town councillors have absolutely no control over what gets built, where it gets built. They, however, are responsible for the consequences of all the houses built without input from the cities and towns we live in.
Questionable
Ethics
After promising that he won’t touch the Greenbelt during the 2022 election, he immediately turns around and betrays the trust of all Ontarians who voted.
Doug Ford’s allies are the people who stand to profit from Bill 23. His actions are so questionable that multiple ethics investigations are under way to investigate both the green belt decision and allegations surrounding his $150 per head Stag and Doe party held for his daughter.
An elected official’s decision must be beyond reproach. The questions arising from Bill 23 are troubling.
Bad Policy Means a Bad Outcome for Every Ontarian
Bill 23 is bad for every Ontarian, period. It erodes the independence of our municipal elected officials and ignores sustainability and growth set out by our own communities. All this is shrouded by troublesome questions around ethics.
What Experts are Saying On How Bill 23 Affects Ontarians
National Observe - Doug Ford Betrays his Promise
.Earlier this month, the Ontario government announced that it is opening consultation on paving over 7,400 acres of the Greenbelt. This goes against the premier’s word. It goes against Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark’s assertion that “we’re not going to entertain any conversations about a land swap” on the Greenbelt. It’s a complete betrayal.
Newmarket Today - 'Doug Ford Tax': York Region faces 2 to 7%
'Start calling it the Ford tax impact, let him own it," Newmarket deputy mayor says as region braces for losing millions in development charges over provincial housing legislation
CBC - Ontario integrity commissioner pauses Ford stag-and-doe probe
Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake says in a statement today that while there are some "flaws" in the request from NDP Leader Marit Stiles, he isn't outright dismissing it — just pausing it — because there is overlap with a related investigation.
Connect Whitby - Bill 23 will create less affordable housing, not more
The Bill does not dictate that developers reduce housing prices by the “savings” created by Bill 23.