‘Democracy is completely thrown out the window’: How Doug Ford’s push for more housing is fuelling fears for the future of local government

The province’s repeated interventions in municipal affairs undermines the power of local councillors.

thestar.com
July 21, 2023

When Deborah Goss saw the email it seemed so egregious she thought it was a joke.

The late Friday afternoon press release from the province announced it was doubling the density of Lakeview Village, a development on Mississauga’s lakeshore, from 8,000 to 16,000 units and removing limits on building heights near the waterfront.

It was the exact opposite of the world-class plan for the site that Goss, dozens of community members and the city’s elected council had spent the last two decades working on. With the stroke of a pen, the province fast-tracked zoning for the development --- booting city council from the decision-making process all together.

“This defies all logic,” said Goss, former president of the Lakeview Ratepayers Association, who pushed for the former site of a coal-fired power plant to be used for housing. “How is this helpful to the municipality that has gone through the right process? How is this helpful to the local community who have advocated and shaped this project?”

Doug Ford repeatedly intervenes in municipal affairs
Since it was elected in 2018, the Doug Ford government has repeatedly exerted its authority over all aspects of local government --- slashing Toronto city council, suddenly bestowing strong-mayor powers, cutting development charges and ushering in the breakup of Peel Region.

In fact, over the past two terms, critics say the Ford government has repeatedly undermined the role of local elected officials --- imposing changes to municipal planning, and overriding decisions of councils or bypassing them altogether --- leaving experts and many municipal politicians alarmed about the future of local government in the province.

Ontario municipalities are often referred to a “creatures of the province,” because they have little power other than what Queen’s Park bestows on them. Over the past few decades, municipal autonomy around planning has been limited by legislation such as the Greenbelt and Places to Grow, according to Joseph Robert Lyons, political science professor at UWO.

In some cases, provincial intervention has been necessary or justified to avoid or limit NIMBY decisions and outcomes in local planning disputes, added Lyons.

But this government “seems excessively preoccupied with municipal governance,” he said, adding that its unilateral approach “makes people feel like they have lost control over local decisions, and undermines trust towards public institutions --- which has implications for democracy.”

Local government seen as more responsive to community needs
Lyons added that one of the reasons for local government is because they can be more responsive to local needs than the province. “But if they can’t be responsive to citizen preferences, than it undermines the logic of the whole system ... especially when it’s not clear who does what, or why.”

Lyons said Ford’s fixation on municipal governance likely comes from his own experience as Toronto city councillor and his belief that local government can become an “obstacle” in achieving certain goals --- such as the provincial housing target of 1.5 million more homes over the next decade.

“Ideally, you would like to see a situation where municipalities are on more equal footing with the province, because we are at a period where the province is running roughshod over municipalities and there isn’t much they can do about it.”

In the case of Lakeview, the province issued what’s called an enhanced minister’s zoning order (or MZO). A regular MZO allows the housing minister to bypass local planning regulations to fast-track development, if the local council asks for it. The enhanced versions remove councils from the equation.

“Democracy is completely thrown out the window,” said Goss, who predicts the Lakeview project will now likely be held up for several years. “Cities and the public are being told ... you are not important. And what is important is for the province to put bedrooms wherever they like. There is no good planning here. It’s almost reckless.”

Since Ford became premier, the relationship between municipal government and the province has become increasingly strained, starting with his contentious decision to cut Toronto city council in half during the 2018 municipal election.

Bill 23 sparks pushback
Then in 2022, local politicians were blindsided when, just days after the municipal election, the province implemented Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act. The bill made significant changes to the funding model for municipalities, including the development charges formula on new housing. It also overhauled the planning process and set new housing targets with little to no consultation.

Usually timid in its criticism of the province, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), which represents 444 municipalities, issued a strong rebuke. It said it had not been consulted and saw “serious problems with the bill,” including an estimated loss of $1 billion annually for the province’s 29 largest municipalities over the next decade.

Hamilton councillor Ted McMeekin, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing under the previous Liberal government, said when he was minister he met with AMO every six weeks and had a standing agreement that “we would do nothing ... that had any fiscal implication without consultation first.”

McMeekin said it’s been disheartening to see the province disempower municipal governments piece by piece, from gutting conservation authorities to opening up the Greenbelt to making massive changes to planning that will impact agriculture, environment and how communities are shaped.

“There are times when I have been in tears in council,” he said. “What government would do something this thoughtless, this anti-democratic, this authoritarian?”

Hamilton staff warn against delays in Greenbelt plans
At a council meeting last month, Hamilton staff --- facing pressures from developers to build on recently opened Greenbelt land in the city --- warned council that any delays in facilitating this development could potentially be overturned by an MZO.

At the June meeting, Steve Robichaud, Hamilton’s chief planner, explained how legislative or regulatory changes used to go through at least a dozen consultative steps with municipalities and the province. Now, the province “moves at a very fast pace, and there are questions about why are we even participating or providing input if they are going to proceed on a course of action that doesn’t seem to reflect any of the input they are receiving from municipalities.”

The province is “proud of the partnerships we have developed with municipalities and we will continue to work with local governments to ensure they have the tools they need to deliver critical local projects, create jobs, and help their communities grow responsibly and sustainably,” said Victoria Podbielski, spokesperson for Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark, in a statement.

Podbielski added that MZOs are an “important part of our government’s policy tool kit to help important local projects move at the pace Ontarians need.”

MZOs fuel fears local voices are becoming irrelevant
But elected local politicians across Ontario said the use of such tools has fuelled a growing sentiment that their voices are irrelevant.

“We are the first line of defence --- when the public gets upset, we hear it first,” said Pickering’s Maurice Brenner, who has been a councillor for nearly three decades, “but we appear to be discarded and ignored by the province.”

Brenner said he has never felt this “level of disrespect” by a provincial government before.

“They seem to suggest we are obstructionists, but we are trying to be a tool for democracy in terms of providing input on behalf of our residents and community,” he said.

He believes Pickering is in the “eye of the storm” when it comes to provincial intervention, including the recent removal of 4,290 acres of Greenbelt lands --- including the Duffins Rouge Agriculture Preserve --- in the city, as well as the approval of several MZOs.

When the province started issuing MZOs in 2018, it said it would do so only if it was requested by the municipality. But last month, it issued a minister’s order for the redevelopment of a for-profit long-term facility in Pickering called Orchard Villa, run by Southbridge Care Home --- despite opposition to it by council and city staff.

At an emotional council meeting in May filled with grieving residents, city officials had rejected the MZO request to expand the project, citing the horrific record of the home, which saw dozens of deaths during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and ultimately required the help of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Another MZO, also for Southbridge, was issued in June to convert a century-old hospital in Port Hope to a seven-storey, 192-bed long-term-care home --- even though council made no such request. “This file is not advancing at the request of the Municipality,” according to the town’s website. “The MZO was issued in response to a request from the Minister of Long-Term Care.”

Province appoints facilitator to aid with contentious developments
To help with contentious development issues, the province recently expanded the role of the Provincial Land Development Facilitator, with the municipal affairs minister appointing the facilitator and four deputies to “perform specified functions at the direction of the minister.”

This office is supposed to help resolve issues by providing impartial facilitation or acting as a negotiator on behalf of the province.

The province didn’t answer questions about how the facilitators are selected, what experience they require or if they will work with council and local communities in any capacity.

It’s also unclear when the facilitator is asked to step in. Under the Ford government, the facilitator has been assigned to developments where land is being removed from the Greenbelt --- such as Hamilton and Pickering --- and to help development in several MZOs and enhanced MZOs, including recent projects in York Region and Mississauga.

According to a report last month, Pickering city staff said they met with the facilitator at “the province’s request” to see how to proceed with the first phase of development for 30,000 homes on the former Greenbelt lands, now called “Cherrywood Lands.”

“Staff will continue to meet with the province as requested to understand the proposed development and to estimate the servicing costs,” the report added.

Facilitator sidelines local councillors
Brenner said while Pickering city council has received some updates on the development, it has been mostly sidelined, with the province dealing directly with Pickering and regional planning staff.

He worries that between the new strong-mayor powers and the province’s overreach, municipal governance seems at time, performative. And he’s concerned that may lead to apathy among voters in the future.

“We have the ability to go through the motions of the councils, but our decision-making power is significantly diminished,” he said. “And if voters think nothing will change, does that discourage them from participating in the political process next election?”

Province appoints facilitator to Lakeview
Mississauga’s Lakeview Village project has also been assigned a facilitator, as an enhanced MZO takes away the role of council in planning the site. City councillor Alvin Tedjo said that after years of collaboration, it’s troubling council won’t be at the table.

“The province sees municipalities as a barrier, but I think it’s because they don’t understand what the process is,” said Tedjo, who criticized the Lakeview MZO when it was issued. “We are trying to show that we need the complete communities ... and it’s not just a matter of sandwiching as many people in as physically possible.”

Tedjo said while the province appears keen to take over the minute details of housing, it continues to download vital responsibilities such as affordable housing, social services and operational funding for transit on cash-strapped municipalities

And he worries that enhanced minister zoning orders like Lakeview’s will become a regular tool for the province to exert control --- even weaponized “against those who disagree with the government.”

“How much meddling should we expect?” said Tedo. “What’s stopping the government from using this again, on multiple occasions?”

Developer requested Lakeview MZO
Mississauga councillor Stephen Dasko said that the province asked staff to consider an increase in density, but staff had unofficially responded “saying this is a really bad idea for a host of reasons.”

But on the Friday before the scheduled public meeting where the request would be discussed, the province issued the MZO, he said. According to the city’s website, the request for the order had come directly from one of the developers, Lakeview Community Partners Limited.

“This order was only about doubling the density. Not doubling parkland, or amenities or transit ... this was just the residential component with unlimited heights right down to the waterfront,” Dasko, pointing out that Mississauga is already on track to exceed the provincial housing target of 120,000 homes by 2051 without the Lakeview zoning order.

“This was exactly the opposite of what we had wanted,” said Dasko. “This undermines what we are trying to do as a municipality and those who, frankly, know their community best.”