The Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025 — also known as Bill 60 — is aimed at cutting red tape, getting shovels in the ground faster and supporting the construction of homes, roads and infrastructure. Rob Flack, the province’s minister of municipal affairs and housing, said the province is building “a more prosperous, resilient and competitive economy” by fighting costly delays and regulatory burdens that slow the delivery of homes, roads and infrastructure.
“With tariffs and economic uncertainty taking aim at our economy, we’re working with municipal leaders and homebuilders to get shovels in the ground faster so we can build more homes and keep workers on the job,” he said.
The bill would — among many other changes — turn minister’s zoning orders (MZOs), which allow the province to change the zoning for a specific piece of land, into non-regulatory orders that will be published on a government website. It also introduces regulation-making authority for “as-of-right” variations from zoning performance standards and includes requirements for a section-by-section review of the Ontario Building Code.
Additionally, the government would have the regulation-making authority to allow variations to be permitted “as-of-right” from additional prescribed performance standards — for example, height — on specified lands, such as urban residential lands, thus reducing the need for planning applications for minor variances.
Laura Gurr of Cohen Highley LLP said the bill’s emphasis on speeding up housing and infrastructure approvals is “certainly welcome.”
“Time is money, and the process being faster is likely, I think, expected to have an impact for developers to improve the economics of development,” she said. “But the issue will be how is this exercised at the municipal level? There are changes to site plan control and reduction of public consultation.”
Ray Mikkola, a lawyer with Mississauga, Ont.’s Pallett Valo Lawyers, said if it is passed, the bill will mean less municipal and public involvement in the building process.
Ray Mikkola, Pallett Valo Lawyers
Mikkola said the bill will also impact overall carbon reduction and climate change targets, pointing to its language prohibiting the City of Toronto from requiring green roofs or other alternative roof surfaces as a means of lowering construction costs and cutting red tape, with the government intending to possibly crack down on other green development standards.
“Cities are not a bad place to address climate change commitments, but it seems here that climate change is not only being relegated to the back seat — it’s being invited to get out of the vehicle,” he said.
And the province’s Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) is once again in the government’s sights, with an aim to reduce the backlog that has plagued the board for years. Proposed changes would provide the attorney general with regulation-making authority to limit the circumstances where a final decision or order of the LTB can be reviewed. The legislation also creates the authority for the government to set out circumstances that qualify as a “persistent” late payment of rent, while limiting the circumstances where new issues can be raised at an LTB hearing.
“Our government is taking action to strengthen Ontario’s rental housing system by delivering faster, fairer and more accessible services,” said Attorney General Doug Downey. “We’re proposing new measures to boost ongoing efforts to address delays and reduce backlogs at the Landlord and Tenant Board — it’s just the latest step in our plan to protect Ontario and help balance the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants.”
But the government did back off on one contentious area of the bill — after significant pushback, Flack confirmed the province would not go forward with consultations on potential changes to Ontario’s tenancy lease framework, which could have ended rent control and indefinite leases for tenants.
Gurr said in the development space lawyers are going to have to make sure their clients are aware of the changes and help make sure that their projects make economic sense going forward.
“And I think in working with municipalities, some of the things that can be effective are just highlighting that there is a need for housing within the community and getting municipal staff on board to see that this is a win-win,” she said. “It can be difficult to respond to the loudest voices that are in opposition to development, especially when you have established neighbourhoods and infill development, but there is a clear desire at all levels of government to build more and build faster, so that should be highlighted whenever you’re working for someone who’s in the business of building rental housing or making some changes to maximize the use of their existing property.”
For his part, Mikkola said one big issue for lawyers is the more readily available prospect of the MZOs.
“A lawyer would typically spend weeks or months getting official plan amendments and a rezoning bylaw, and it’s possible that those sorts of assignments will be reduced if you can simply obtain a ministerial zoning order,” he said. “It may modify some lawyers’ practices to start with a consideration of whether they should simply try to get a ministerial zoning order rather than go through that much longer process, especially given that you know at any point during the process, there might be a minister zoning order that makes all the effort that they’ve undertaken so far to be without purpose.”
Bill 60 has passed first reading and is currently before the Ontario legislature.
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