Minister's zoning orders eroding democracy in Vaughan

Lobbyists are undermining the people 'for your benefit,' writes Sony Rai (opinion piece)

Yorkregion.com
Feb. 5, 2021

As families across the country have been struggling with new realities during this global pandemic, a troubling new trend in Vaughan has emerged.

At a time when you’re distracted and concerned about the health and well-being of loved ones, Vaughan council has prioritized moving ahead with developer requests to bypass the democratic process, just to rubber-stamp development applications without your input.

This is being done through the use of minister's zoning orders.

A minister's zoning order (MZO) allows the minister of municipal affairs and housing to circumvent local planning processes, public consultations and environmental regulations, and designate land use without the possibility of appeals.

Steve Clark, the current minister, has clearly stated that requests for MZOs must come from endorsement at the municipal level.

The message coming from the development industry is that the undermining of democracy is for your benefit. Development applications are not being approved fast enough through the traditional method and we need to build our way to economic recovery post-pandemic.

Prioritizing the economy has been the entire reason why this pandemic has become increasingly problematic during its second wave. The lives of long-term-care patients have taken a back seat to the economy; the environment has taken a back seat to the economy; and through the use of MZOs, your democratic right to express how you feel about development and its impact on you is taking a back seat to the economy.

Vaughan citizens, largely through their regional tax contributions, subsidize the cost of new infrastructure and roads that make development possible in the city. Citizens are being asked to pay for development with no say in how these future developments impact them.

Vaughan has been commended by the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), the industry’s biggest lobbyist. They’ve highlighted that the City of Vaughan ranked #1 out of the 18 municipalities in site plan approval timelines and #2 for the average time taken to process official plan amendments, zoning bylaw amendments and plan of subdivision approvals.

“The global COVID-19 pandemic has not slowed city-building in Vaughan,” the city claimed in a recent York Region News article, with the city issuing more than $1 billion in building permits in 2020.

If the development approval process in Vaughan is ranked one of the best, and the city is still issuing large volumes of building permits during a global pandemic, then why has Vaughan council approved the most requests for developer MZOs in the entire GTA?

Vaughan citizens cannot allow council to normalize the approval of MZOs. If you do not speak up, you will allow this council to further erode your say in the way your community is shaped and how your tax dollars are spent.

Demand that Vaughan council stop issuing MZOs and commit to a fair and democratic process for approving developments.