Spring Clean-Up: Ontario Government Proposes Planning Act Changes To Facilitate Development Approvals

On April 6, 2023, the Ontario government unveiled the latest of its policy and legislative proposals as part of its Housing Supply Action Plan. The proposals include the release for comment of a new Provincial Planning Statement (PPS), which will replace the PPS and the Growth Plan. Some changes are also proposed to the Planning Act, with the introduction of Bill 97, the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023, which proposes legislative amendments with the goal of achieving the construction of 1.5 million new homes by 2031.

While Bill 97 does not contain the sweeping changes brought in by Bill 23, the small and technical fixes to the Planning Act sought to be introduced through Bill 97 are important. A blackline of the Planning Act showing the changes in context can be found here.