Ontario’s ministerial zoning order process needs to be overhauled, even after the introduction of a new framework for the land use planning tool, the province’s auditor general said Tuesday. Minister’s zoning orders – also known as MZOs – allow the housing minister to make changes to land zoning rules, override municipal decisions, and in theory, fast-track housing projects. The auditor general says the province has used the tool 114 times from 2019 to 2023 under Premier Doug Ford’s government, which is a 17-fold increase in usage from the previous 20 years. Consequently, re-zoned agricultural land rose in value by 46 per cent on average, the auditor general concluded. “We found that none of the information packages that the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing prepared for the minister during this…
Register
