Bill 150, Energy Symposium Summary, and Development Charges Consultation 

Planning Statute Law Amendment Act 

AMO has provided comments on Bill 150, the proposed Planning Statute Law Amendment Act. AMO welcomes the decision to reverse ministry issued decisions; especially those made without the input of affected communities. 

We are pleased to see that our previous recommendation to provide immunity provisions to mitigate legal risk for municipalities resulting from the reversals has been included in the legislation. However, AMO continues to call on the province to include transitional provisions that extend the timeline for municipalities to complete development charges by-laws, and to ensure that updates to existing by-laws do not “reset the clock” on the five-year phase in requirement. 

LAS Energy Symposium Summary 

LAS and AMO hosted an Energy Symposium on November 2-3, 2023 with the goal of sharing and understanding various perspectives and experiences with energy expansion and green energy transformation across the province. A summary of the proceedings is now available and provides key takeaways related to increased demand on energy supply; opportunities to manage energy production and storage; and opportunities to manage energy demand and consumption. 

Development Charges Consultation 

On December 13, Minister Calandra announced a commitment to “work with municipal partners and ensure they have the tools and revenue streams to get shovels in the ground,” including consulting on development charges and fee refund frameworks. 

AMO has consistently stated that Bill 23 was deeply flawed and not in the public interest, undermining municipalities’ ability to build the infrastructure required to support growth. The recent announcement is a significant step towards fulfilling the government’s promise to make municipalities whole from the fiscal impacts of Bill 23. It responds to many of AMO and the municipal sector’s recommendations and shows that the government is listening. 

Municipalities remain committed to doing everything within their power to assist the province in meeting its target to build 1.5 million homes by 2031. We recognize the need to revisit how we fund growth to meet our shared goals. Municipalities are prepared to support reductions in development charges and fees where they help to meet housing and affordability goals, provided that the governments commits to a Social and Economic Prosperity Review to update the provincial-municipal fiscal relationship.  

As a first step in the consultation process, AMO wrote to the Ministers of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Finance and Infrastructure to outline a balanced and targeted approach to development charges. AMO looks forward to working with the government on more detailed discussion of development charges and fee refunds over the coming months. We look forward to a broader conversation to update the provincial-municipal fiscal relationship to support Ontario’s economic foundations and quality of life.