Today, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario convened in a special session to pass an emergency piece of legislation - Bill 189 The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Support and Protection Act, 2020. Today's legislation responded to a number of issues that OHBA has raised with the provincial government.  The legislation amends a number of pieces of legislation with the following highlights:

Schedule #1: Development Charges Act:

• A new Section 9.2 of the Development Charges Act, 1997 provides that development charge bylaws that expired on or after March 17, 2020 and before the day the section comes into force are deemed to not have expired and shall remain in force until the earlier of the day the bylaw is repealed and the specified date.  The section also provides that development charge bylaws that expire on or after the day the section comes into force and before the specified date shall remain in force until the earlier of the day the bylaw is repealed and the specified date.
• The specified date is defined as the date that is six months after the termination or disallowance of the emergency.
• The schedule comes into force at Royal Assent (expected Tuesday, April 14)

Schedule #2: Education Act:

• The Education Act is amended to add a section addressing the expiring of education development charge by-laws during the current state of  emergency;
• The specified date will be a date six months after the state of emergency is terminated;
• The schedule comes into force  with Royal Assent (expected today);
• These amendments respond directly to a number of concerns raised by HBAs;

Schedule #4: Planning Act:

• The Planning Act is amended to authorize the Minister to make regulations in connection with the current state of emergency;
• The regulations may, among other things, govern the application of periods of time describe in the Planning Act and the regulations and in Sec 114 of the City of Toronto Act and provide that an order made under subsection 7.1 (2) of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act does not apply, and in certain cases is deemed to have never applied;
• Sec 7.1 (2) of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act states, “temporarily suspend the operation of a provision of a statute, regulation, rule, by-law or order of the Government of Ontario”;
• The regulations may be apply on a retroactive basis;
• The legislation may provide that the period of the emergency shall not be included for the purposes of counting a period of time;
• Therefore municipalities could temporarily suspend planning timelines back to March 17, 2020 without the risk of appeal (for a non-decision); however it also confirms the ability for virtual public meetings and the ability to approve applications for municipalities that wish to continue processing applications;
• OHBA will report further when the Regulations have been passed, but the actions made by the province today are intended to allow municipalities to continue to make land use decisions and to ensure the ability for those decisions to come into effect if they are not appealed. Previously under the state of emergency, legal planning decisions by a municipality could not come into effect.