Summary#

Bill 17, the Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025, amends eight Ontario Acts and revokes one regulation. It has been enacted as Chapter 9 of the Statutes of Ontario, 2025, though some changes start later. Its stated goal is to speed up infrastructure and home construction and support economic and community growth.

• Municipalities may not use certain by-laws to regulate building construction or demolition, and official plans and zoning by-laws may not prohibit elementary or secondary schools on urban residential land.
• Long-term care home development is exempt from development charges. Some other development-charge changes, including when residential charges are due, start only on a date set by the provincial government.
• The Minister may direct municipalities and their agencies to provide information and records for certain transit or government-funded projects. Those municipalities and agencies must comply.
• The Minister may attach conditions to some planning orders. Some orders are suspended until the Minister is satisfied the conditions have been or will be met.
• The province may delegate transit-oriented community powers to Metrolinx, Ontario Infrastructure and Lands Corporation, or certain other public bodies. Agreements about land may be registered and enforced against later owners, but registration requires all parties’ consent.
• The Act does not create a new independent agency or a general application process for housing or transit projects.

What it means for you#

• Municipalities and their agencies: They must provide requested information and documents when directed under the Metrolinx Act or Ministry of Infrastructure Act. For Metrolinx-related requests, the Minister specifies the deadline. The laws do not set a deadline for the other requests.
• People and organizations building long-term care homes: Development charges do not apply to the part of a building intended for use as a long-term care home. This does not apply to charges already payable before the exemption starts.
• Residential developers and homebuyers: A change to when some residential development charges are payable is scheduled, but its start date has not been provided. If it takes effect, those charges are due by the earlier of the occupancy permit date and first occupancy. In prescribed circumstances, a municipality may require financial security for payment.
• Schools and child care at schools: Municipal official plans and zoning by-laws cannot prohibit an elementary or secondary school on urban residential land, or certain uses ancillary to the school, including a child care centre located in it.
• Landowners involved in transit-oriented community projects: The Minister or a delegated body may make an agreement with an owner of land it considers may be needed for a project. The bill does not require an owner to sign; registration requires every party’s consent. A registered agreement can be enforced against later owners.
• Building-material makers and applicants: The Building Materials Evaluation Commission cannot use specified powers for an innovative material, system or building design if the Canadian Construction Materials Centre has examined it or said it intends to examine it.

Money#

No publicly available information on the Act’s total cost is included in the supplied material.

• The long-term care development-charge exemption reduces charges that would otherwise be payable; the amount of foregone municipal revenue is not stated.
• Municipalities and their agencies must provide information and records when directed. The material gives no estimate of the staff time or other costs.
• Some development-charge payment dates change, but the material does not estimate the financial effect on municipalities, developers or homebuyers.

What is unclear#

• The supplied material does not include the amended Acts as a whole, so the changes could not be checked against all current rules or programs.
• Several changes depend on regulations or an order setting a start date. The supplied material does not say when those provisions take effect or what the regulations will require.
• The bill does not set a limit on the information or documents the Minister may request for transit projects, or explain what review or challenge process applies.
• It does not define the prescribed setback percentage for certain buildings. It also leaves the Minister or delegated body to judge whether land may be required for a transit-oriented community project.
• A requirement for ministerial approval of some official-plan amendments is enacted, but another provision repeals that requirement on a date to be set by order. The supplied material does not give that date.

Case for#

• The bill appears intended to remove some municipal barriers to schools and construction, and to make certain planning information requirements easier to meet using work prepared by prescribed professionals.
• Exempting long-term care home development from development charges could reduce one cost of building those facilities.
• Giving provincial transit and infrastructure officials access to municipal records could help them plan or carry out projects that depend on municipal information.
• Allowing land agreements for transit-oriented community projects could give governments and landowners a way to coordinate project-related land use. The bill requires consent to register an agreement.

Case against#

• Municipalities must comply with broad information requests, but the bill does not set clear limits on what may be requested or provide a process for resolving disputes.
• Development-charge exemptions reduce municipal revenue, while the material does not explain whether or how municipalities would replace it.
• Some planning powers and rules depend on regulations or ministerial judgment. Without those details, the effects on municipalities, landowners and building projects are hard to assess.
• The bill permits conditions on some ministerial planning orders and can suspend an order until the Minister is satisfied those conditions have been or will be met. The material does not set out limits on those conditions.