FORD GOVERNMENT EXEMPTS DEVELOPERS FROM PAYING BILLIONS for infrastructure projects: water and sewer upgrades, transit expansion, roads, bridges, child care programs, libraries, community centres, parks, shelters for the vulnerable, fire and emergency services. Now, generations of Ontarians are left paying the price.

On November 28, 2022, Premier Ford passed Bill 23 — More Homes Built Faster Act and drastically reduced the development charges condo and high-rise developers are required to pay in order to build the infrastructure needed to support their massive 30, 60, 90-storey projects. For the City of Toronto alone, this resulted in a $2.3 BILLION funding gap that leaves the City no other option but to increase property taxes.

Then, on March 31, 2026, the Ontario and federal governments slashed development charges by ANOTHER 50%, and promised 8.8 BILLION TAXPAYER DOLLARS to cover infrastructure costs. Billions of our income tax dollars.

Premier Ford says he is addressing a housing crisis, however, on January 29, 2026, his government froze affordable housing by pausing Inclusionary Zoning. Developers are no longer required to provide 5% of their units as affordable housing. Massive building projects near transit hubs in Toronto, Mississauga and Kitchener, whose applications are filed before July 1, 2027, are grandfathered and will never offer Ontarians affordable housing. Happy Canada Day. 

Bill 23 drastically reduces city planners' authority to enforce city by-laws: height, density, land use, and community benefits (green spaces, communal hubs, retail, daycares). Developers are motivated to BYPASS COMMUNITY CONCERNS and city councils by appealing directly to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT), created by the Ford government in 2021, who finds in favour of developers more than 90% of the time.

OLT mandates:

• Legal requirement to uphold provincial policies, like Bill 23
• Power to override municipal by-laws and Conservation Authorities
• Control over local concerns — protected watershed areas, heritage properties, city planning
• Power to order losing parties to pay the winning parties' legal costs

A WARNING FOR THE GTA is the Bloor Street West Corridor, in Etobicoke. A proposed 39‑storey high-rise at 69 Old Mill Terrace is set to replace a 3-storey rental building — already an affordable home to young families, seniors, and long‑term tenants. Developers have not shown how a luxury condo tower can fit on a corner lot of a small, low-rise, residential street, with aging sewers and subway, single‑lane traffic, on a bus route serving two schools already at‑capacity. It is not clear how a high-rise with 60% studio/one bedroom units, WITH NO AFFORDABLE UNITS, will provide the livable spaces families need. On the same block, there are eleven, mid-rise rental apartments that hundreds of tenants call home. WE MUST SAY NO to this precedent-setting high-rise.

We support housing — with real space — for families to grow, AND infrastructure to make our cities livable.

Right now, communities across Ontario are paying the price for Bill 23: 

• OLT approval of 30, 60, 90-storey high-rises, without a commitment to livable spaces for families 
• Existing affordable housing demolished — rent-controlled apartments, mobile home parks
• Tenants displaced, without sufficient compensation, to make room for "affordable housing"
• Massive projects built faster than the infrastructure needed to support them
• Protected watershed areas proposed for development

We call on the Province to:

• Repeal More Homes Built Faster Act (Bill 23) AND reinstate:
  • Infrastructure paid for by developers. NOT by raising our property or income taxes
  • Municipal authority over planning decisions
  • Meaningful community consultation — STOP silencing residents
  • Conservation Authorities oversight over watershed management 
• Unfreeze Inclusionary Zoning so developers are once again required to provide affordable housing
• Major density policy MUST be tied to proven infrastructure capacity and funding
• Repeal designations for Protected Major Transit Station Areas (PMTSA) and Major Transit Station Areas (MTSA) if infrastructure capacity, community benefits, and appropriateness for growth and development are not proven
• Fast‑track funding for education and healthcare to keep pace with rapid development

We call on the Ontario Land Tribunal to:

• Approve responsible proposals, ONLY with a commitment from developers to drastically increase the number of livable, 2-3 bedroom units to address the HOUSING CRISIS FAMILIES FACE
• Approve responsible proposals based on their cumulative impact on infrastructure — STOP planning in silos
• Reject proposals if rapid growth outpaces infrastructure and STAFFING — teachers, nurses, firefighters, paramedics

We call on Elected Officials of municipalities across Ontario to:

• STAND WITH your constituents AGAINST irresponsible provincial planning policies 

Sign and share. Ontario's communities — and our future — depend on it.

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