Habitats, natural resources and recreational greenspace are not as replaceable or moveable as the Doug Ford government's new policies make them out to be, according to conservation experts.
Ontario has broken the law by forcing the City of Hamilton to expand its boundary to build homes on farmland and wild spaces, an environmental rights group alleges in legal documents as it takes the province to court in a case being tracked by the mayor.
Indigenous leaders from across Ontario called on Wednesday, December 7, 2022, for the repeal of a new housing bill they said was passed without properly consulting First Nations and could put their communities at risk.
Ontario Greens are calling for an integrity probe after the Opposition NDP asked the province's auditor-general to calculate the spike in value of property suddenly at risk of losing its Greenbelt status.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is set to give the mayors of Ottawa and Toronto greater power with so-called strong mayor legislation introduced Wednesday in an apparent bid to speed up housing development in the province.
Peel Region will expand its urban boundaries to accommodate expected population growth, bucking a trend of nearby municipalities that have defied the provincial government’s push for sprawl.
Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark said he wasn’t sure how many of the controversial land zoning orders the province plans to issue before the next election. "It's really just greenwash for the government's extraordinary misuse of MZOs to drive sprawl," said Phil Pothen of Environmental Defence.
City councillors in Stratford, Ont., should not have voted behind closed doors to seek a controversial land zoning order from the province, an independent investigator found. The order fast-tracked a since-cancelled proposal for a controversial glass factory.
Last spring, Ontario’s auditor general warned the government that changes to environmental assessments in Bill 197 were “not compliant” with the law. Now, First Nations and environmental groups are asking a judge to review the decision.
