Summary#

Bill 131, the Transportation for the Future Act, 2023, is enacted as Chapter 17 of Ontario’s 2023 statutes. It amends the City of Toronto Act, 2006 and enacts the GO Transit Station Funding Act, 2023. Its stated goal is to support transit connections and communities near GO stations while recovering station construction costs in a reasonable, transparent and fair way.

• A municipality named in future regulations may choose to impose charges on certain developments to help pay costs it has agreed to cover for a new GO station. The council must get the Infrastructure Minister’s consent before passing the by-law.
• The charge by-law must map the area where charges apply and explain how to decide whether a charge is payable and how much it is.
• Charges generally become payable when a building permit is issued. Municipalities may charge interest on late payments, add unpaid charges to the tax roll for collection like taxes, and withhold a building permit if a charge due has not been paid.
• The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) may agree to let a municipality or local board operate or maintain part of its local passenger transit system within Toronto. The TTC does not have to make such an agreement.
• For agreements intended to integrate transit services, the bill says the agreement is not a sale or transfer of TTC operations under the Labour Relations Act, 1995, or contracting out under relevant collective agreements. Those labour provisions require a proclamation to take effect; the supplied material gives no date.
• The Act also lets Toronto and other municipalities exempt certain qualifying municipal capital facilities from all or part of their transit station charges.

What it means for you#

• Developers and landowners: If a municipality covered by regulations adopts a charge by-law, certain development may face a charge. Eligible development includes projects needing specified planning approvals or a building permit. The charge is generally due when a building permit is issued.
• Municipalities: Councils may choose whether to adopt a by-law, but must complete a background study, consult, pass a resolution and obtain the Minister’s consent first. Treasurers must provide councils with annual financial statements, which must be made public.
• TTC, municipalities and local boards: The TTC may authorize a municipality or local board to operate or maintain part of its local passenger transit system in Toronto, on agreed conditions. The bill does not require an agreement or set service levels.
• GO Transit users and the public: The law creates a way to help fund some new GO stations, but does not require a municipality to impose a charge or guarantee that a station will be built. It does not directly change GO fares or service.
• Municipal taxpayers: The charges may fund only the costs they were imposed for, interest on municipal borrowing for those costs, and other amounts provided for in the by-law. The bill does not state how much any municipality will collect or spend.

Money#

No cost estimate is available in the supplied material.

• Municipalities may collect charges for eligible costs related to constructing a new GO station that the municipality has agreed to pay. The regulations may further define those costs.
• The bill requires municipalities that adopt a by-law to do studies, consult and provide annual financial statements, but gives no estimate of the staffing or other costs.
• The bill does not appropriate a stated amount of provincial money. It allows municipalities to borrow for the station costs and pay related interest from the charges.

What is unclear#

• Which municipalities will be covered, which developments may be exempt, and how rental or institutional development charges will be timed depend on regulations. Those regulations are not included.
• The bill does not set charge rates or the areas and projects that any municipality will cover. These would be set through local by-laws, subject to Ministerial consent.
• The bill allows regulations to limit passing the charge on to later land purchasers, but the supplied material does not say whether such rules have been made.
• The supplied material does not establish whether the TTC labour provisions requiring proclamation are now in force.
• The parent Acts are not supplied, so their full current rules and how these changes interact with them could not be checked.

Case for#

• The bill appears intended to give municipalities a way to help pay for new GO stations that they have agreed to fund, rather than relying only on general municipal revenues.
• Requiring a study, public consultation, a mapped charge area and Ministerial consent could help make local charges more informed and transparent.
• The TTC agreement power may allow local transit services to connect with TTC services under conditions agreed by the parties.
• Annual public financial statements could help residents see how much of the station costs charges have funded and how much remains unfunded.

Case against#

• One concern is that charges may add to development costs. The bill does not set limits on charge amounts, and how much of the cost may ultimately reach purchasers is unclear.
• A municipality may have to fund station costs before receiving all related charges; the bill allows borrowing but provides no cost or repayment estimates.
• The Minister may modify a proposed by-law, but the bill does not set out a decision timeline or a process for challenging a decision.
• The TTC agreement power could change who operates or maintains part of a local passenger transit system in Toronto, while the bill leaves the terms to the agreement and does not set service standards.