On October 23, 2025, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) announced the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025 (the Act). In a Press Briefing, MMAH stated that the purpose of the Act is to “protect Ontario’s economy and keep workers on the job by cutting red tape, getting shovels in the ground faster and supporting the construction of homes, roads and infrastructure.” The Act forms part of the Province’s continued effort to address Ontario’s “housing crisis” by adopting measures that will streamline the construction of new homes and infrastructure.

At the same time, the Province announced that it is seeking public input on a number of related initiatives, including significant reforms to the rules governing municipal Official Plans, proposed revisions to the Ontario Building Code, and the potential for reduction or removal of minimum lot sizes for urban residential properties in zoning by-laws.

The Province has released a Technical Briefing which outlines the proposed legislative changes and policy initiatives. The Environmental Registry of Ontario also features a number of consultations on the proposed changes, which are linked below. The commenting period for the proposals will close on November 22, 2025.

This alert expands on our initial insight (see: Ontario announces the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025 to cut red tape, accelerate growth and increase the housing supply) and provides further detail on the proposed legislative and policy changes that we anticipate will have a significant impact on land use planning and development in Ontario.

1. Changes to the Planning Act

PPS not applicable to Ministerial decisions

The Act proposes a series of amendments to the Planning Act, aimed at enhancing the Minister’s authority to expedite development in the provincial interest. Notably, a new section of the Planning Act is proposed which states that Ministerial decisions made under the Planning Act are no longer required to be consistent with the Provincial Planning Statement, 2024 (PPS) for lands outside of the Greenbelt Area. Proposed transition provisions state that this exemption will apply retroactively to all previous Ministerial decisions. These amendments are intended to provide the Minister with greater flexibility to advance provincial priorities, such as increasing the housing supply.

MZOs as non-regulatory orders

The Act proposes to amend section 47 of the Planning Act to state that Minister’s Zoning Orders (MZOs) will no longer be subject to Part III (Regulations) of the Legislation Act, 2006, and will thereforeno longer be made as regulations to the Planning Act. This will not change the legal effect or criteria for requesting an MZO, and issued MZOs will be published on a Government of Ontario website. The Technical Briefing states that moving away from the regulation format is intended to improve the Minister’s response time and flexibility in making MZOs that advance matters of provincial interest. The Act also proposes further amendments that will enhance the Minister’s ability to require municipalities and landowners to enter into agreements necessary to implement MZOs.

As-of-Right variances

The Act expands upon amendments to the Planning Act under Bill 17 which established a framework for “as-of-right” minor variances to minimum setback distances based on a prescribed standard. Specifically, the Act authorizes the Minister to permit “as-of-right” deviations from zoning standards contained in a zoning by-law, more generally, and not just for setbacks. The rules governing “as-of-right” deviations will have to be set out in a future regulation (the text of which has not been released), and can be expressed as a percentage increase to a maximum standard or decrease to a minimum standard. The Technical Briefing states that they may be applied on a land use-by-land use basis.

The Province is seeking public input on these proposed changes to the Planning Act through the Act. The ERO posting for public comment is open until November 22, 2025, and can be accessed here.

Certain PMTSA policy amendments exempt from Ministerial approval

The Act proposes amendments to the Planning Act that will simplify the approval process for certain Protected Major Transit Station Area (PMTSA) amendments. For instance, municipalities may amend the “authorized land uses” within a PMTSA, specifically to add residential uses, without requiring approval from the Minister, as long as core PMTSA policies like minimum density requirements remain unchanged.

This change is intended to accelerate development and intensification of residential uses near transit, aligning with recent Ministerial approvals and provincial priorities.

2. Changes to the Development Charges Act, 1997

The Act proposes amendments to the Development Charges Act, 1997 aimed at continuing the Province’s efforts to standardize and streamline development charges and make development less costly. The proposed amendments require municipalities to establish “local service policies” that will apply to and identify development charges if they partly contribute to a local service. The intent of these policies is to clarify the cost allocation of infrastructure needed for new housing and to avoid disputes between developers and municipalities over whether an item constitutes a “local service.”

The Act also establishes a new class and special rules for development charges used for the purpose of land acquisition (referred to as the “land acquisition class”). The stated goal of this class is to prevent land costs from inappropriately inflating development charges. These changes are all supported by new reporting requirements for municipalities, which require them to provide the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing (the Minister) with copies of all background studies, development charge by-laws and local service policies.

3. Changes to the Transit-Oriented Communities Act, 2020

The Act proposes to establish a transit-oriented communities (TOC) advisory panel, which would make recommendations to the Minister on TOC projects, land, infrastructure and related matters. The Minister will, in turn, have the authority to order municipalities and landowners to enter into agreements required for the completion of TOC projects (namely site plan agreements). As mentioned above, proposed amendments to the Planning Act will also exempt Official Plan amendments that authorize residential uses in PMTSAs from requiring the Minister’s approval.

The overall intent of the Minister’s involvement in TOCs is to expedite these projects and designations for PMTSAs by removing a layer of approval.

4. Standardizing Official Plans, by-laws and applications

Standardizing Official Plans

The Province is seeking input from the public on an initiative to simplify and standardize Official Plans. This proposal arises from the concern that Official Plans have become lengthy, complicated and overly-restrictive, which results in the need for additional approvals in the form of Official Plan amendments and which generally slows down the development process. While still at a preliminary stage, the Province’s suggested reforms include setting strict standards for the content, layout and length of Official Plans, requiring certain development standards to be transferred from Official Plans to Zoning By-laws, creating a unified set of land use designations, and potentially prohibiting the use of multiple Official Plans, including Secondary Plans. The Technical Briefing also suggests that the Province is looking at options for establishing a unified procedure and platform for processing Planning Act and Ontario Building Code applications.

The Province is inviting feedback from municipalities, key stakeholders and the public on this initiative. The ERO posting for public comment is open until November 22, 2025, and can be accessed here.

Minimum lot sizes

The Province is also seeking input from the public on a proposed initiative to reform its approach to minimum lot sizes for urban residential properties across the province. The Province highlights approaches taken in other jurisdictions and suggests that drastic reform may be necessary to achieve planning objectives like residential infill and higher-density development. The Province is seeking feedback on both reducing or eliminating the need for minimum lot sizes in all municipalities.

The ERO posting for public comment is open until November 22, 2025, and can be accessed here.

5. Prohibitions on green roof requirements and other “green development standards”

The Province is seeking input from the public on the removal of municipal “green-development standards” to cut red tape, reduce costs and make the municipal site planning process less onerous. The Province has set a target to implement these changes in advance of the spring building season. While the proposal would affect site plan controls in all municipalities, it is initially targeted at prohibiting the City of Toronto’s practice of requiring green roofs and other similar landscaping standards.

The ERO posting for public comment is open until November 22, 2025, and can be accessed here.

6. Enacting a new Water and Wastewater Public Corporations Act, 2025

The Act proposes to enact a new Water and Wastewater Public Corporations Act, 2025 which would enable the Minister to designate a corporation, by regulation, as a “water and wastewater public corporation” to provide water and wastewater services on behalf of prescribed lower-tier municipalities. Prescribed municipalities will be required to transfer their existing water and wastewater services to the corporation, which gains the authority to impose and collect necessary fees or charges. The Minister will retain control over the corporate and share structure of the corporation.

This enactment corresponds with an amendment to the Municipal Act, 2001,which delegates jurisdiction over water and wastewater services from the Region of Peel to Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon individually. Based on the Technical Briefing, the effect of this coordinated change is to transfer responsibility and joint-ownership of these services to lower-tier municipalities, while still allowing the existing facilities to service the entire region through the use of a corporation. The goal of this change is to encourage new financing strategies and reduce reliance on development charges for water and wastewater services.

How the Water and Wastewater Public Corporations Act, 2025 is ultimately implemented, and its application in other municipalities, could have a significant impact on the way that water and wastewater services are financed and delivered across the Province.

The Province is currently seeking public input on this proposal. The ERO posting for public comment is open until November 22, 2025, and can be accessed here.

7. Modernization of the Ontario Building Code

Though not approved through the Act, the Province announced in its Technical Briefing that it is set to undertake a section-by-section review of the Ontario Building Code in an effort to eliminate outdated and unnecessary requirements. The goal of the review is to reduce regulatory burdens and costs while maintaining safety.

Conclusions and next steps

The Province continues to take significant steps to update Ontario’s land use planning regime to streamline the construction of new homes and infrastructure and tackle barriers to building.

As of the date of this bulletin, the Act has undergone its first reading and is currently at the second reading stage.

Dentons will continue to review the proposed legislation and related policy initiatives and provide updates on any related developments. If you have any questions about the Act or any related legislative and regulatory proposals, please contact Katarzyna Sliwa, Isaiah Banach, Max Reedijk, Jessica Jakubowski, Karen Sadler, or any member of the Dentons Municipal Planning, Land Use and Development team.