Liberals pledge to end Ford’s MZOs
Party would focus on affordable housing, not-for-profit nursing homes if elected
MZOs will be DOA if the Ontario Liberals win the June election.
Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca said he would end the practice of using minister’s zoning orders to override local planning decisions.
While MZOs have been around for decades, Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives have dramatically increased their use in order to expedite development.
“Doug Ford has weaponized MZOs and is abusing his power to attack our environment and reward the well-connected few,” Del Duca said Tuesday.
“Ontario Liberals will scrap MZOs and bring in strict rules to protect our environment while responsibly building communities,” he said at the Dominion Foundry heritage site on Eastern Avenue, which had been threatened by provincial actions.
Del Duca said should he win the June 2 election, the Liberals “would only allow fast-tracking of critical provincial projects, like affordable housing and not-for-profit nursing homes.”
Noting Ford has issued 57 MZOs over the past three years, triple what the Liberals did during their 2003-2018 time in power, he said greater “transparency measures” would be introduced to protect the environment and increase local input.
“We desperately need to build more housing in Ontario,” conceded Del Duca.
But he emphasized the province should be able to grow and prosper “without attacking our environment.”
“It’s about sustainable growth to build a better future for all of us,” he said.
Both Ford and Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark have defended the use of MZOs, a planning tool that allows rezoning of a piece of land to fast-track development and bypass public participation.
At Queen’s Park, Clark told reporters that the Liberals should have allowed more construction during their almost 15 years in power.
“We’ve been able to facilitate 26,000 housing units, including 500 supportive housing units right here in the city (of Toronto). MZOs alone have been able to fast-track 3,700 long-term-care beds,” he said.
In June, the premier pointed out a new shared Milton campus for Conestoga College and Wilfrid Laurier University “was made possible because of our government’s use of the MZOs.”
Critics argue the Conservatives are approving development projects without adequately assessing their environmental impact.
With the Tories campaigning on building the 16.2-kilometre Bradford Bypass and the 60-km Highway 413, two controversial freeways that would impact greenbelt lands, farmland, and sensitive wetlands, MZOs should be a hot topic in the spring election.
Del Duca, a former transportation minister under premier Kathleen Wynne, said he opposes Highway 413, which would connect Highway 401 at Milton to Highway 400 at Vaughan. But he is awaiting an updated environmental assessment on the Bradford Bypass before determining his position.