This spring, the Ontario government announced Bill 2, Protect Ontario Through Free Trade Within Canada Act, 2025, Bill 5, Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025 and Bill 17, Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025. On May 15, 2025, Ontario's Minister of Finance tabled Ontario's 2025 budget.
These measures reflect the Ontario government's continued efforts to increase the housing supply and address the costs of constructing new homes. Bills 2, 5 and 17 will amend a number of existing statutes and create new legislation aimed to streamline the construction of new homes and infrastructure, reduce costs, cut red tape and tackle barriers to building. The proposed legislation also seeks to enhance economic growth and respond to various economic uncertainties, including the potential impacts from US tariffs. In connection with Bill 17, the Ontario government released a Technical Briefing which provides an overview of the proposed changes and updates on additional consultations that will be taking place with municipalities and other industry stakeholders.
This bulletin is focused on planning, housing and infrastructure-related changes contained in Bills 2, 5 and 17, Ontario's 2025 Budget, or as announced in the Technical Briefing.
Bill 17, Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025
On May 12, 2025, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (the MMAH) announced Bill 17. The new Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Rob Flack, said that Bill 17 will "protect Ontario in the face of economic uncertainty by speeding up construction so we can lower housing costs and keep workers on the job." Minister Flack also said that the Bill was developed in close partnership with Ontario's municipalities and is responsive to recommendations and requests from municipal leaders.
(a) Proposed amendments to the Planning Act (and the City of Toronto Act, 2006)
Bill 17 proposes amendments to the Planning Act (and corresponding amendments to the City of Toronto Act, 2006) aimed at standardizing municipal development processes, reducing red tape and removing barriers to building and construction.
- Standardizing requirements for "complete"
planning applications: Bill 17 proposes amendments to the
Planning Act (and the City of Toronto Act, 2006)
that are intended to standardize requirements for the submission of
a complete planning application. Specifically:
- Municipalities must obtain written approval from the Minister before adopting an amendment to an official plan that adds, amends or revokes any policies setting out the requirements for a complete application;
- The provision of information or material in respect of a requirement for a complete application is deemed to meet the applicable requirement if the information or material is prepared by a person authorized to practice a prescribed profession (prescribed professional is yet to be defined); and
- The Minister will have the power to make regulations governing the information or material that is required (including the power to prohibit the requirement for specific studies/reports) in connection with official plan amendment, zoning by-law amendment, site plan approval, draft plan of subdivision and consent applications. These regulations would prevail over the requirements in existing official plans.
These amendments are intended to standardize complete application requirements and prevent disputes between municipalities and applicants regarding whether a complete application has been submitted. The Ontario government is currently seeking comment on a proposed regulation to standardize complete application requirements on the Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO). Currently, the Ontario government is proposing that sun/shadow, wind, urban design and lighting studies would not be required as part of a complete planning application.
- Permitting minor variances, "as-of-right": Bill 17 proposes to amend the Planning Act to provide that a minimum setback distance is deemed to be the percentage of the setback distance prescribed by regulation. In other words, variances from the zoning by-law would be permitted "as-of-right" if the proposal is within a prescribed percentage of the required setback. This permission would apply to parcels of urban residential lands outside of the Greenbelt Area. The Ontario government is currently seeking comment on a proposed regulation that provides for a prescribed percentage of 10% through the ERO. These amendments are intended to reduce or eliminate the need for minor variance applications related to setbacks for specific types of development.
- Conditions to Minister's Zoning Orders (MZOs): Bill 17 proposes to add Section 47(1.0.1) to the Planning Act to give the Minister the authority to impose conditions that must be met before a use permitted by a MZO comes into effect. The proposed amendments permit the Minister to require the owner of land to which an MZO applies to enter into an agreement with the Minister or relevant municipality relating to the condition, which may be registered on title. These amendments are intended to ensure that developments approved through a MZO will continue to meet provincial and other land use planning objectives and requirements.
- Schools permitted on "urban residential land": Bill 17 proposes amendments to Sections 16 and 35 of the Planning Act to provide that official plans and zoning by-laws may not prohibit the use of a parcel of urban residential land for a school or any ancillary uses.
(b) Proposed amendments to the Development Charges Act, 1997
Bill 17 proposes amendments to the Development Charges Act, 1997 which are aimed at simplifying and standardizing the development charges (DC) regime, in an effort to lower the cost of constructing new homes. The MMAH has stated that the amendments to the Development Charges Act, 1997 were developed in consultation with municipalities, and include measures that some municipalities (such as Mississauga) have already implemented. They include:
- Broader eligibility for DC credits: Under the current regime, DC credits can only be used toward DCs for the same service. Bill 17 proposes to amend Section 41 of the Development Charges Act, 1997 to provide broader flexibility for obtaining DC credits. Specifically, the proposed amendment provides that the province may pass a regulation to merge service categories, allowing a DC credit that relates to a service within the merged category to be used as a credit against DCs charged for other services within the merged category. In other words, depending on the regulation (which has not been released yet), developers could obtain DC credits for the construction of a road and apply those credits to a separate category of DCs (i.e., transit).
- Definition of "local services": Currently, the Development Charges Act, 1997 does not contain a definition of "local services," which a municipality may require a developer to build as a condition of development. This has led to disputes between developers and municipalities as to what constitutes a "local service" and whether a particular infrastructure improvement is captured under DCs. Bill 17 proposes to amend the Development Charges Act, 1997 to provide the province with regulation-making authority to define "local services."
- Deferral of development charges to occupancy: Bill 17 proposes to amend the Development Charges Act, 1997 to provide developers with the option to defer DCs for any residential development from the point at which the building permit is issued until the time of building occupancy. It also proposes amendments that would permit a person to pay a DC that must be paid in accordance with Section 26 before the day it is payable in the absence of an agreement under Section 27. The amendments also prohibit municipalities from levying interest that has accrued after subsection 4(5) of Schedule 4 of the Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025 comes into force on any deferred DC payments for rental housing and institutional development. These amendments are intended to assist developers in managing cash flows by deferring DC payments until the project has achieved a stage of completion sufficient to generate revenue.
- Lowering DC rates without a background study: Bill 17 proposes to amend the Development Charges Act, 1997 to provide municipalities with the authority to reduce DCs, repeal a provision in a DC by-law providing for the indexing of a DC, or amend such a provision to provide for a DC not to be indexed, without the need to amend or initiate a new background study or undertake public consultations.
- Prescribing limits on capital costs: Bill 17 proposes to amend the Development Charges Act, 1997 to provide the province with the authority to pass a regulation to provide for exceptions to the eligible capital costs that may be recovered through DCs and making such exceptions subject to conditions. According to the Technical Briefing, this proposal stems from a report indicating that the eligible land values being estimated and incorporated into DC background studies can inflate municipal DC rates.
- Frozen DC rates: Under the current regime, DCs for a particular development are frozen when the developer files the later of a site plan application or a zoning by-law amendment application. The developer then pays the frozen DC amount at the time a building permit is issued, together with any applicable interest (unless the building permit is obtained more than eighteen (18) months after approval of the relevant development application). Sometimes, the DC rate at the time of payment is lower than the frozen rate – Bill 17 proposes to correct this situation by permitting developers to pay whichever rate is lower between the frozen DC rate or the reduced DC rate that becomes available during the freeze period. This approach will provide predictability for developers by ensuring they have the security of the frozen rate while maintaining the potential to benefit from any subsequent reduction in DCs.
- Exemption for long-term care homes: Bill 17 proposes to amend the Development Charges Act, 1997 to exempt the development of "any part of a building or structure intended for use as a long-term care home" from DCs.
(c) Proposed amendments to the Building Transit Faster Act, 2020 and the Transit-Oriented Communities Act, 2020
Bill 17 proposes to amend the Building Transit Faster Act, 2020 and the Transit-Oriented Communities Act, 2020 to accelerate the delivery of major transit projects and streamline the planning and delivery of transit-oriented communities.
Minister of Infrastructure to administer Transit Oriented Communities Act, 2020: Bill 17 proposes to amend the Transit Oriented Communities Act, 2020, to make the Minister of Infrastructure responsible for the administration of certain powers under that Act, whereas the Minister of Transportation currently holds those responsibilities. Other proposed amendments give the Minister the authority to delegate certain powers under the Transit Oriented Communities Act, 2020 to Metrolinx, the Ontario Infrastructure and Lands Corporation, or other prescribed public bodies. The Minister or any entity to which it has delegated its powers may enter into an agreement with any owner of land to support a transit-oriented community project, which may be registered on title.
Minister of Infrastructure Authority to pass MZOs: While not specifically provided for in Bill 17, the Technical Briefing suggests that, the Minister of Infrastructure will have authority to approve MZOs, an authority currently held only by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
Expedited delivery of "Provincial Transit Projects": Bill 17 proposes to amend the Building Transit Faster Act, 2020 by replacing the term "Priority Transit Project" with the term "priority transit project," an expanded definition which includes any "transit project that Metrolinx has authority to carry out." As a result of this amendment, rules in the Building Transit Faster Act, 2020 which give the Province authority to expedite "priority transit project," will now apply to any transit project that meets the expanded definition. According to the Technical Briefing, this will allow for the faster delivery of provincial transit projects, which have had significant issues meeting project timelines as a result of approval and notification periods.
New definition of "Transit-Oriented Communities": The Transit-Oriented Communities Act, 2020, currently defines a "transit-oriented community project as part of a "priority transit project," as that term is defined in the Act. Bill 17 propose to amend the Transit-Oriented Communities Act, 2020, to provide that a "priority transit project" includes a "provincial transit project" as defined under the Building Transit Faster Act, 2020. This will enable the designation of transit-oriented community projects on any lands which contain a "provincial transit project". According to MMAH, this will expand opportunities to develop mixed-used communities along GO and LRT networks.
(d) Inclusionary zoning
On May 12, 2025, O. Reg. 54/25 came into force, which amends the Inclusionary Zoning Regulation O. Reg. 232/18 to establish a 5% maximum set-aside rate and a 25-year maximum affordability period in Protected Major Transit Station Areas. These changes are consistent with the MMAH's ERO Notice 019-6173, released in October 2022.
These changes are intended to reflect current market conditions and economic viability, as market analysis shows that higher set-aside rates could have the effect of prohibiting, as opposed to incentivizing, the development of housing (including affordable housing), more generally. Municipalities with existing inclusionary zoning by-laws with higher set aside rates and maximum affordability periods will be required to amend their by-laws.
(e) Proposed amendments to the Building Code Act
Bill 17 proposes revisions to the Building Code Act that standardize and clarify construction requirements and technical standards to provide consistency and reduce construction costs and approval timelines.
Municipalities must follow the Building Code: Bill 17 proposes amendments to the Building Code Act which explicitly prohibit municipalities (including the City of Toronto) from passing by-laws respecting the construction or demolition of buildings. According to the Technical Briefing, the purpose of these amendments is to ensure that there will be one set of construction and technical standards that apply across the Province and to further prohibit municipalities from imposing construction standards which exceed those set out in the Building Code.
No secondary approval for innovative construction: Bill 17 proposes amendments to the Building Code Act that will eliminate the need for a secondary provincial approval for the use of innovative construction products.
(f) Consultations announced through the Technical Briefing
The Technical Briefing that was released with Bill 17 notes that the Province intends on engaging in various consultation processes with municipalities and industry stakeholders. Specifically:
- to standardize roadbuilding specifications.
- to consider scenarios where provincial policy tests would not apply to Minister's decisions under the Planning Act (for example, the approval of a municipal Official Plan).
- to consider legislative or regulatory changes to "establish simplified, standardized and inclusive land use planning designations with more permitted uses" in municipal Official Plans.
Bill 2, Protect Ontario Through Free Trade Within Canada Act, 2025
Bill 2 seeks to unlock free trade and labour mobility within Canada by eliminating interprovincial trade barriers. Ontario would be the first province in Canada to remove all party-specific exemptions ("PSEs") under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement ("CFTA"). This legislation was introduced in response to the economic uncertainties caused by the threat of US tariffs. Some specific aspects of Bill 2 that may impact developers, builders and landowners in Ontario are:
(a) Amendments to the Ontario Labour Mobility Act, 2009
Bill 2 proposes to amend the Ontario Labour Mobility Act, 2009, which simplifies the process for individuals certified in regulated occupations out-of-province to apply to be certified in Ontario. The Ontario Labour Mobility Act, 2009 applies to architects, landscape architects and land use planners, amongst other regulated occupations. The amendments require the regulatory authority to make a certification decision within 30 calendar days and deems individuals who are certified in a regulated occupation to be certified in Ontario for a one-time six-month period. This means, out-of-province architects and planners can be certified in Ontario for a six-month period and receive a certification decision within 30 calendar days.
(b) The Ontario Free Trade and Mobility Act, 2025
Bill 2 also introduces the Ontario Free Trade and Mobility Act, 2025 for the purposes of removing barriers to trade in goods and services between Ontario and other provinces. Goods from provinces with similar reciprocating legislation that have met applicable standards and approvals will be treated as having met the corresponding standards and received the corresponding approvals in Ontario. This could result in quicker and more cost-effective procurement of construction materials and equipment, which will, in turn, reduce project timelines and expenses.
Bill 5, Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025
Bill 5 is an omnibus bill which amends existing legislation and proposes new legislation. Premier Ford said that the purpose of Bill 5 is to cut red tape and duplicative processes that have held back major infrastructure, mining and resource development projects.
(a) The Special Economic Zones Act
Bill 5 proposes a new Special Economic Zones Act which permits the Lieutenant Governor in Council, to exempt projects and proponents of their choosing in areas of their choosing from provincial and municipal laws. The Special Economic Zones Act would also allow the Lieutenant Governor to make regulations designating special economic zones where the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade can, by regulation, exempt a proponent or project from acts or regulations, including zoning by-laws.
(b) Amendments to the Rebuilding Ontario Place Act, 2023
Bill 5 proposes to amend the Rebuilding Ontario Place Act, 2023 to provide that Part II of the Environmental Bill of Rights does not apply to the Ontario Place Redevelopment Project. Accordingly, the public will not receive notice of, or have opportunity to, comment on proposals, decisions, or events that could affect the environment as it relates to the Ontario Place Redevelopment Project.
(c) Amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act
Bill 5 proposes to amend the Ontario Heritage Act to permit the Lieutenant Governor in Council to order that a property is exempt from archaeological and heritage conservation requirements if it could potentially advance provincial priorities such as transit, housing, health and long-term care, infrastructure and other prescribed priorities. The proposed amendments also expand inspection and enforcement powers for artifacts and archaeological sites. The Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries will be granted the power to direct that any artifact taken under the authority of a license or permit be deposited in a public institution of their choosing, held in trust for the people of Ontario, or deposited with an Indigenous community. The Minister may also seize any artifact or material on the premises that is being inspected or investigated.
(d) Amendments to the Endangered Species Act
Bill 5 proposes to amend the Endangered Species Act to introduce a narrower definition of "habitat," limiting it to residences actually or "habitually" occupied by animal species at risk. Proposed revisions to Section 7 of the Act empower the Lieutenant Governor in Council to make regulations listing species as extirpated species, endangered species, threatened species or special concern species after reviewing the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario ("COSSARO") report. The Lieutenant Governor in Council will not be required to classify any of the species in the COSSARO report as endangered or otherwise.
(e) The Species Conservation Act
The new proposed Species Conservation Act ("SCA") is intended to repeal and replace the ESA. The SCA is proposed to have the same, narrower definition of "habitat" as described above. Unlike the ESA, the proposed SCA will not apply to migratory birds and certain aquatic species and will permit damage or destruction to the habitat of a species listed on the Protected Species in Ontario List so long as the activity is registered.
New Ontario 2025 Budget
On April 15, 2025, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy tabled the Ontario government's 2025 budget for Ontario. The budget included key items such as funding for housing and infrastructure and expanding transportation and transit.
(a) Housing and Infrastructure
During the briefing, Minister Bethlenfalvy announced the Ontario government's plan to invest CA$200 billion in the next 10 years to build stronger communities and lay the foundation for a stronger Ontario, including investing:
- CA$5 billion to the Building Ontario Fund for key sectors like energy, affordable housing, long-term care and transportation;
- CA$400 million through the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program and the Housing-Enabled Water Systems Fund to address high demand for existing municipal infrastructure programs; and
- CA$40 million over five years through Invest Ontario to grow industrial capacity in modular construction and to accelerate development, improve affordability and nurture homegrown industries.
(b) Transit and Transportation
Minister Bethlenfalvy also announced that the Ontario government is moving ahead with the construction of Highway 413, including exploring the feasibility of building a new driver and transit tunnel expressway under Highway 401. The Ontario government will also advance planning and feasibility studies for its GO 2.0 project which proposes to deliver two-way, all day, GO service to Kitchener and Milton which includes planning new GO station locations.
Conclusions and Next Steps
The Ontario government is taking significant steps to update Ontario's land use planning regime to streamline the construction of new homes and infrastructure, and tackle barriers to building.
As of the date of this bulletin, Bills 2 and 5 have undergone their second reading and will be the subject of Standing Committee hearings. Bill 17 has undergone its first reading and has been ordered for a second reading.
About Dentons
Dentons is the world's first polycentric global law firm. A top 20 firm on the Acritas 2015 Global Elite Brand Index, the Firm is committed to challenging the status quo in delivering consistent and uncompromising quality and value in new and inventive ways. Driven to provide clients a competitive edge, and connected to the communities where its clients want to do business, Dentons knows that understanding local cultures is crucial to successfully completing a deal, resolving a dispute or solving a business challenge. Now the world's largest law firm, Dentons' global team builds agile, tailored solutions to meet the local, national and global needs of private and public clients of any size in more than 125 locations serving 50-plus countries. www.dentons.com
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances. Specific Questions relating to this article should be addressed directly to the author.
