"I have significant concerns about Bill 23. The potential consequences will be devastating to the environment, to coordinated planning and to taxpayers — downloading the costs of growth from for-profit developers to you, the taxpayer.
It is chaotic and the wrong kind of disruption. I have little doubt that this will lead to unintended consequences that will, at the end of the day, make it harder to build homes faster. As such, it works against the goal of what we all want to achieve.
We stand ready to work with the Province as an equal partner. This is not the way to go about it.
We are asking the Province to push pause and we hope they will listen to municipalities. The guiding principles in the staff report we received at our Nov. 8 Council meeting outline succinctly our concerns and that of other municipalities.
We are not the only municipality or agency expressing serious concerns over Bill 23. The Halton Mayors sitting on the Conservation Halton board penned a letter outlining concerns and asking for a pause to get it right; the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) board has expressed concerns and asked for more time; and the Ontario’s Big City Mayors (OBCM) caucus has expressed concerns and asked for more time. Halton Regional Council has also asked our Chair Gary Carr to express all of Regional Council’s concerns about this Bill, and seeking additional consultation (scroll further down this post for more on that)."