Updated
July 24, 2003

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About the Coalition: Smog Breakfast: Bill 25 Backgrounder

BILL 25 BACKGROUNDER

Summary

The Government of Ontario introduced Bill 25 – An Act to Enhance Public Transit and Provide for A Smart Transportation System in Ontario (Bill 25) on May 7, 2003.

It includes provisions that would allow the Minister of Transportation to override the authority of municipal councils, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and other provincial and local agencies to designate areas of the province as ‘transportation infrastructure corridors’ (i.e. highway corridors).

The Bill would exempt the designation of such ‘corridors’ from the requirements of the Environmental Assessment Act, and attempts to bar any form of legal action against corridor designations.

The Bill includes a number of separate components.

Amendments to the Highway Traffic Act

Bill includes amendments to the Highway Traffic Act to:

• Permit the use of paved shoulders of highways as traffic lanes
• Provide for the designation of High Occupancy Vehicle Lands on highways

Amendments to the Planning Act

The Bill includes amendments to permit approvals of subdivisions to be conditional on the dedication of land for commuter parking lots

Amendments to the Public Transportation and Highway Improvement Act

The Bill would amend the Act to:

• provide for the regulation of communter parking lots; and
• Give the Cabinet the power to constititue Crown Agencies to develop and implement or oversee the implementation of policies and strategies related to public transit services.

The latter provision would appear to be intended to permit the creation of agencies along the lines of the Great Toronto Services Board, created in 1999, and disbanded in 2001.

Amendments to the Ontario Planning and Development Act

The Designation of Transportation Infrastructure Corridors

These provisions are the core elements of Bill 25. They would permit the designation of ‘infrastructure corridor planning areas.’ Once the plans for such corridors, which are initiated by the province, are approved by the provincial cabinet, all municipal planning documents, such as official plans and zoning bylaws, must be made to conform with the transportation corridor concepts. Any conflicting municipal land use plans will be of no effect.

The Act provides that where the infrastructure in question is transportation infrastructure, the powers of the Minister of Municipal Affairs to designate infrastructure corridors are to be excercised by the Minister of Transportation. In effect, the Bill would permit the Minsiter of Transportation to override municipal official plans and zoning by-laws that conflict with the designation of transportation corridors. In addition, municipalities and other provincial government Ministies would be barred from any undertaking within the area of the plan that conflicts with the creation of such corridors.

The Exemption of Corridor Designations from the Environmental Assessment Act

Subsection 2 (5) of Bill 25 provides that the establishment of a development planning area or an infrastructure corridor planning area and the preparation of plans in respect of those areas are no longer "undertakings" under the Environmental Assessment Act, in effect removing the application of the Act to the designation of corridors. As a result, there will be no review under the Environmental Assessment Act about whether a new transportation corridor is needed, or consideration of alternative locations for the corridor.

All rights of municipalities and the public to participate in these decisions under the Environmental Assessment Act will be eliminated.

Bar on Legal Actions Against the Designation of Corridors

Finally, the Bill would bar any legal action arising as a direct or indirect result of the designation of a corridor, including injurious affection of the property values of landowners within or near a designated corridor.

Summary and Conclusion

In effect, Bill 25 would permit the Minister of Transportation to designate the location of highway corridors in almost complete isolation from other planning and environmental considerations. This is the complete opposite of the ‘smart growth’ principles. Under a real smart growth model, transportation infrastructure would be planned to support growth in areas that have been identified as focal points for development, taking into account the need ensure the viability of public transit services, protect ecologically significant areas and agricultural lands, and provide for economically sustainable infrastructure, rather than having growth follow wherever infrastructure is provided.

These provisions of Bill 25 need to be considered in the context of the massive program of highway expansion in the Central region of the province that the Ministry of Transportation and the SuperBuild Corporation are proposing to undertake over the next few years. This includes:

• The eastward extension of Highway 407 to Highway 35/115

• The extension of Highway 404 around the east and south sides of Lake Simcoe
• The northward and eastward extension of Highway 427 to Barrie
• Construction of a new mid-peninsula highway from Burlington to Niagara Falls
• The creation of a new east-west GTA transportation corridor north of the Oak Ridges Moraine.
• The extension of Highway 410 northwards "at least" to highway 89.

Bill 25 would permit MTO to proceed with these undertakings which, if completed, would largely preclude the possibility of real smart growth development patterns in the region.