In the June 2 provincial election, Ontarians returned Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative (PC) party to a majority government. Read BILD’s media release congratulating Mr. Ford and his government. For results by riding, visit Elections Ontario.
This is a positive result for new home buyers and renters in Ontario. The PCs have committed to enabling the construction of 1.5 million homes over the next decade and critical infrastructure projects throughout Ontario.
The pro-housing Cabinet Ministers who were re-elected include:
Doug Ford (Etobicoke North)
Steve Clark (Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes)
Monte McNaughton (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex)
Peter Bethlenfalvy (Pickering-Uxbridge)
David Piccini (Northumberland-Peterborough South)
Todd Smith (Bay of Quinte)
Lisa MacLeod (Nepean)
Vic Fedeli (Nipissing)
Stephen Lecce (King-Vaughan)
These MPPs will provide a strong foundation of pro-housing support in government that is needed to help facilitate growth and build new homes.
Looking closer at the GTA, the PCs had a strong showing, sweeping the 905 Regions of Durham, Peel, York and Halton and picking up one seat in the City of Toronto. The strong showing in the GTA is a demonstration of voter support for the PC party’s platform to promote growth through investment in infrastructure and measures to bring more homes and commercial spaces to market to address current affordability challenges.
The commitments made by the Ford campaign reflect BILD’s advocacy efforts to speed up approvals, designate land for housing and ensure new homes are taxed in a fair and equitable manner.
Over the last four years, our association has worked collaboratively with the government to achieve numerous successes, including:
New Growth Plan to better align housing needs and population growth;
Shortening development approval times by holding municipalities accountable to timelines set out in the Planning Act;
Addressing the case backlog at the Ontario Land Tribunal by increasing resourcing and staff;
Seniors’ Home Safety Tax Credit to incentivize renovations and facilitate aging in place;
Winding down the Ontario College of Trades and establishing Skilled Trades Ontario, ending much of the bureaucracy that limited skilled trade and apprenticeship opportunities.
As part of the PC Party’s re-election pitch to voters, the latest provincial budget presented their vision for increasing housing supply and choice in Ontario. BILD, in collaboration with OHBA, will begin working with the returning government to ensure measures are brought forward to address housing supply and affordability issues that were central to the campaign. Key priorities include:
Ensuring land is designated for growth both within current urban areas (as-of-right zoning and employment conversions) and through urban boundary expansion;
Developing a framework for inclusionary zoning policies that incents development and does not limit delivery of new supply;
Addressing increasing municipal government fees on new homes through measures such as a cap on parkland charges;
Continuing to introduce process improvements to speed up approvals and depoliticize building of new communities.
The opportunity ahead of us is a direct result of the collaborative relationship our industry has had with the government over the last four years. This strong relationship solidified housing supply as the core solution to improving housing affordability. Together, we have established housing supply and choice as the fundamental solution to the GTA’s generational housing affordability challenge.
Members are invited to join OHBA CEO Luca Bucci on Thursday, June 9, at noon, for an in-depth briefing on what the election result means for our industry. An invitation will be distributed on Monday, June 6.
If you require further information or have any questions, contact either Luca Bucci at lbucci@ohba.ca or Dave Wilkes at dwilkes@bildgta.ca.