Milton Councillor Addresses Passing of Doug Ford’s Plans for More Housing

Published June 12, 2019 at 2:47 pm

It hasn’t been long since the Ontario government announced that Bill 108 – entitled the ‘More Homes, More Choice Act, 2019’ – 

It hasn’t been long since the Ontario government announced that Bill 108 – entitled the ‘More Homes, More Choice Act, 2019’ – had been passed. In fact, the government only made the announcement on June 6, 2019.

The recently passed act, according to the Ontario government, is a comprehensive legislation that will work to tackle the housing crisis.

However, many municipalities are concerned about what this recently passed bill will mean for their city or town.

Before the bill, which consists of changes to 13 pieces of legislation, was passed all Halton municipalities spoke out against it.

At a council meeting on May 27, the city of Burlington passed a motion that requested for the province to not pass Bill 108until there was more discussion.

Halton Hills Mayor Rick Bonnette also voiced his opposition to Bill 108 on Twitter, saying his town council also unanimously voted against it.

Oakville Mayor Rob Burton noted that his town’s position was that Bill 108 would do more harm than good, while also calling for more time to examine it. 

And in Milton, a similar motion was introduced to halt Bill 108 until more information could be gathered and more consultation was done, which was also passed unanimously. 

However, now that the bill has been passed, Halton Regional Councillor and Milton Ward 3 Councillor, Mike Cluett has weighed in.

“One of the outcomes of Bill 108 now that it has passed is that what little local control municipalities gained when the governing body changed to [the] LPAT [Local Planning Appeal Tribunal] has now been taken away by going back to the OMB [Ontario Municipal Board] rules,” Cluett said in a recent blog post.

Cluett continued, “By reverting back to old OMB rules, it ensures that the residents of Milton will have an even smaller voice on how we grow going forward.”

Cluett also noted that the recently passed bill will put rapidly growing communities, like the town of Milton, under ‘even further financial pressure.’

According to Cluett, the town will now have less to provide for infrastructure in high-growth areas, slower development of parks and trails, in addition to the quality of public services (public transit, etc.) being lowered.

“Sadly, this government didn’t listen when we asked to be at the table to discuss these changes,” Cluett said. “The bill has passed and it’s now the law and we are going to have to figure out how to keep up with a lot less.”

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