Liberal leader Steven del Duca vows to end Prime Minister Doug Ford’s MZO if elected

The MZOs will be DOA if Ontario Liberals win the June election.

Liberal leader Steven Del Duca said he would end the practice of using the minister’s zoning orders to override local planning decisions.

While MZOs have been around for decades, Prime Minister Doug Ford’s progressive conservatives have dramatically increased their use to accelerate development.

“Doug Ford has armed MZOs and is abusing their power to attack our environment and reward the well-connected few,” Del Duca said Tuesday.

“Ontario Liberals will eliminate MZOs and introduce strict rules to protect our environment while building communities responsibly,” he said.

Del Duca said that if he won the June 2 election, the Liberals “would only allow for acceleration of critical provincial projects, such as affordable housing and nonprofit nursing homes.”

Noting that Ford has issued 57 MZOs in the past three years, triple what the Liberals did during their 2003-2018 term in power, he said greater “transparency measures” would be introduced to protect the environment and increase local participation.

“We desperately need to build more homes in Ontario,” admitted Del Duca.

But he emphasized that the provincial must be able to grow and prosper “without damaging our environment.”

“It is about sustainable growth to build a better future for all of us,” he said.

Both Ford and Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark have defended their invocation of MZOs, a planning tool that allows you to rezone a piece of land to accelerate development and avoid public involvement.

In June, the prime minister noted that a new shared campus in Milton for Conestoga College and Wilfrid Laurier University “was made possible by the use of MZOs by our government.”

“We can’t be waiting for all the regulations and bureaucracy,” Ford said, insisting that his government get “approval from the municipalities” before proceeding.

Critics argue that conservatives are approving development projects without properly assessing their environmental impact.

With Conservatives campaigning to build the 16.2km Bradford Bypass and 60km Highway 413, two controversial highways that would affect green space, farmland, and sensitive wetlands, MZOs should be a hot topic in cities. spring elections.

Robert Benzie is the bureau chief for Star’s Queen’s Park and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie