The policy led planning system under which municipalities within the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) Area have operated since 2006 has experienced numerous changes over the last 5 years requiring the City to continuously review, examine and adapt our planning policies and practices. On April 6, 2023 as part of Bill 97, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing introduced a draft Provincial Planning Statement that is intended to replace the current Provincial Policy Statement and the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Some policies of the Growth Plan are intended to be incorporated into the new Provincial Planning Statement and the Growth Plan is proposed to be repealed. The proposed repeal of the Growth Plan now treats the region generally the same as any other part of the Province despite it being home to 70% of Ontarians. While some Growth Plan policies are found in the proposed Provincial Planning Statement, virtually all the foundational ones have been eliminated and the overall policy intent of establishing a regional plan to lay out and coordinate planning, resource and infrastructure management efforts has been abandoned. Absent a comprehensive and coordinated regional growth management framework, potential unintended consequences may include, loss of agricultural land and associated worsening food insecurity, degradation of the natural heritage system and it's ability to mitigate the impacts of climate change, impacts on water quality, uncoordinated infrastructure planning that increases costs for local and regional governments, uncoordinated and unsustainable development patterns that encourage car dependency, and the loss and removal of employment lands needed to support a diverse economic base. The direction for regional planning implied in the draft Provincial Planning Statement represents a seminal change in the land use planning system in the GGH that together with recent and potential future governance changes pose risks to the widely recognized benefits of coordinated and integrated land use, resource and infrastructure planning and calls into question progress toward widely understood and desirable outcomes around climate adaptation, inclusion, economic and financial stability over the next decades. Growing imperatives around housing supply and paying for infrastructure should spark an evolution in regional planning through a focussed collaborative process around making the Growth Plan work better, without jettisoning its fundamental goals around limiting sprawl and long-term land use predictability. The Province has provided stakeholders 60 days to review the proposed document and comments are due no later than June 5, 2023. Staff will submit the recommendations from Planning and Housing Committee to the provincial ERO posting and will submit additional comments received at City Council's meeting on June 14-16, 2023 as supplementary information to the recommendations contained in this report. This report outlines staff comments on the proposed Provincial Planning Statement as itemized in Attachment 1. The recommendations contained in this report address concerns raised by City staff intended to inform the Ministry of the City's comments and suggested revisions to the proposed Provincial Planning Statement. Staff from City Planning, Engineering & Construction Services, Economic Development & Culture, the Housing Secretariat, Toronto Water, Parks, Forestry & Recreation, Corporate Finance and Legal Services reviewed and provided comments organized in the following six themes: 1. Regional Planning — 2. Housing — 3. Employment Lands Planning — 4. Environment — 5. Infrastructure — and 6. Implementation
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