OHBA is seeking comments from members in relation to Bill 17 - Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025.
All comments are to be sent to kjensen@ohba.ca no later than May 31, 2025.
Proposal number: 25-MOI003, Comments open until June 11th.
Link to commenting post: Ontario Regulatory Registry
The Ministry of Infrastructure Act, 2011 is proposed to be amended to provide the Minister of Infrastructure with the authority to direct a municipality and/or a municipal agency to provide information or data that may be required to support the development or implementation of a project funded by the provincial government. The Ministry of Infrastructure Act was introduced to provide the scope of work that would fall within the purview and authorities of the Ministry to accelerate and deliver on government infrastructure projects. There are currently challenges in meeting project timelines, land access issues and lengthy approval and notification periods that have stalled provincially funded infrastructure projects. There have been examples of infrastructure project delivery challenges where lack of access to timely information have resulted in costly delays in meeting project delivery timelines. This amendment would provide the Minister of Infrastructure with the authority to request information and data from a municipality or municipal agency needed to support provincially funded infrastructure projects.
This power is intended to only be used where municipal information or data is necessary for the timely delivery of provincially funded projects, and where a municipality has been unwilling to provide this information through voluntary means or good faith negotiations. The proposed amendment would help the province ensure that it has the information necessary to determine which municipal lands are needed for a project and what other constraints may exist to accelerate property negotiations and meet project timelines. It aims to facilitate faster, more efficient infrastructure development, which can enhance connectivity, reduce congestion, support economic growth, and improve quality of life. The proposed amendment is enabling legislation; the new provisions are only intended to be used where the province is not able to acquire the requested information from a municipality through good faith negotiations. As such costs and benefits could only be calculated on a case-by-case basis. Any direct costs would be minimal and related only to assembling and transmitting required documents to the Minister or the Ontario Infrastructure and Lands Corporation.
