Canada: Ontario Introduces Bill 162: The Get It Done Act, 2024

On February 20, 2024, Bill 162, the Get It Done Act, 2024 ("Bill 162") was introduced in the Ontario legislature for first reading. The stated objectives of Bill 162 are to "get shovels in the ground" and accelerate the construction of transit, housing and infrastructure projects to support Ontario's growing population while making life more affordable for families and businesses across the province.

Bill 162 proposes amendments to a number of different statutes, ostensibly aligned with the objectives above. This article is intended to provide a summary of key amendments that could impact stakeholders with interests in provincial land use planning and development matters.

Key Proposed Measures

• Changes to the Environmental Assessment Act to clarify that expropriation is one of the ways that property can be acquired for a project before the environmental assessment process is completed; and
• Changes to the Official Plan Adjustments Act, 2023 to modify a number of official plans and official plan amendments and to retroactively re-enact these changes.

Clarification of Property Acquisition Methods Under the Environmental Assessment Act

Bill 162 proposes to amend section 1 of the Environmental Assessment Act by adding the following subsection:

Acquisition of Property

(7) For greater certainty, under this Act, a reference to acquiring property or rights in property is a reference to acquiring the property or rights in property by purchase, lease, expropriation or otherwise.

The Environmental Assessment Act currently permits property to be acquired for a project before a proponent is authorized to proceed. The amendment is proposed to provide greater certainty to municipalities and other proponents as they plan for future projects.

The proposed amendment also relates to the province's ongoing efforts to simplify the existing environmental assessment ("EA") process. As part of its announcement of Bill 162, the province advised that it is set to begin consultations with municipal partners on a new EA process for certain municipal water, shoreline and sewage system projects. The proposed process is intended to streamline and accelerate project planning by providing a regulated timeline of six months. As part of these efforts, the province proposes to revoke the Municipal Class EA (MCEA) and make a streamlined EA regulation for "higher-risk" municipal infrastructure projects. Our analysis of the proposed "Municipal Project Assessment Process Regulation" can be found here.

Modifying the Amendments Introduced by the Official Plan Adjustments Act

On December 6, 2023, the Planning Statute Law Amendment Act, 2023 ("Bill 150") received royal assent. Schedule 1 of Bill 150 enacted the Official Plan Adjustments Act, 2023 (the "OPAA"), which retroactively reversed certain provincial decisions on official plans ("OPs") affecting 12 municipalities: the cities of Barrie, Belleville, Guelph, Hamilton, Ottawa, Peterborough, Wellington County and the regional municipalities of Halton, Niagara, Peel, Waterloo and York. Our previous article discussing Bill 150 is available here.

The result of the OPAA was that provincial modifications which were previously made to those OPs and official plan amendments ("OPAs") were retroactively removed. The modifications left intact following the OPAA generally related to protecting the Greenbelt, strengthening Indigenous relations, industrial land use compatibility, protecting safe drinking water and preparing for Highway 413.

To understand which of the prior provincial modifications were being left intact, the OPAA contained (in section 1) a table indicating the OP or OPA at issue (Column 1), the date the relevant OP or OPA will be deemed to have been in effect since (Column 2) and the provincial modifications that would remain part of the OP or OPA (Column 3). All provincial modifications not listed in Column 3 were deemed to have never been made.

Bill 162 now proposes to repeal the Bill 150 version of the above-described table and substitute it with the table below.

The majority of provincial modifications being added back into the relevant OPs/OPAs relate to urban area expansions that are supported by the relevant municipal authority. This support would have been expressed by the municipal authority during the initial consultation on Bill 150. The province appears to have collected the various municipal responses and created the new table in Bill 162 as its response. As noted by the Minister in the associated announcement, the cities of Ottawa and Hamilton will not have any lands added to their respective council-approved urban boundaries as part of Bill 162.

Additional modifications, which are detailed in Bill 162, are proposed to the following:

• The official plan adopted by the Regional Municipality of York pursuant to By-law 2022-40;
• Official plan amendment 880 adopted by the City of Guelph pursuant to by-law 2022-20731;
• Official plan amendment 119 adopted by the County of Wellington pursuant to By-law 5760-22;
• The official plan adopted by the City of Barrie pursuant to By-law 2022-016;
• The official plan adopted by the City of Belleville pursuant to By-law 2021-180;
• The Official Plan adopted by the City of Peterborough pursuant to By-law 21-105;
• Official plan amendment 49 adopted by the Regional Municipality of Halton pursuant to By-law 35-22; and
• Official plan amendment 6 adopted by the Region of Waterloo pursuant to By-law No. 22-038.

As discussed in the province's backgrounder, the proposed modifications are the result of recent consultations with the affected municipalities.

Upon receiving royal assent, the above modifications proposed by Bill 162 will be deemed to have come info force on December 6, 2023.

The province is currently seeking feedback on the proposed amendments to the OPAA. The commenting period is open until March 21, 2024. Comments may be submitted through the Environmental Registry of Ontario.

The Municipal & Land Use Planning Group at Aird & Berlis will continue to monitor Bill 162 as it makes its way through the legislative process and will keep you informed of any important changes. If you have questions or require assistance, please contact a member of the group.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.