The Ontario government tabled a Bill on December 6, 2018 that would make dozens of amendments to many provincial acts “to stimulate business investment, create good jobs, and make Ontario more competitive by cutting unnecessary regulations”.
Included are changes to the Planning Act (Schedule 10) that would enable municipalities to pass “open for business” bylaws that would suspend the application of environmental protection and normal due process (advance notice, right of appeal, etc.) for development projects that meet a minimum job creation threshold.
More information on the Bill can be found here.
Environmental Defence launched a campaign against Schedule 10. In late January 2019 the government announced it was withdrawing Schedule 10. Environmental Defence wrote later:
Last month, tens of thousands of people like you came together to demand that the Ontario government remove Schedule 10 of Bill 66, which would have opened up the Greenbelt, drinking water sources and vulnerable watersheds like Lake Simcoe for development.
The comments on Bill 66 submitted by the Greenspace Alliance on January 20, 2019, can be found here.
The amended Bill received Royal Assent on April 3, 2019. (Full details here.)