Tensions between the Ford government and Mississauga have reached new heights after the province overruled more than a decade of local planning, allowing a developer to almost double the size of a major waterfront project.
Late on Friday afternoon, the province announced it had granted a request from a developer to bypass the local planning process and add thousands of new units to Lakeview Village in Mississauga.
The developer asked the Ford government for a minister’s zoning order (MZO) to let its project skip the local planning process, and proceed with more height and density than local councillors were willing to offer — a request that was granted within days, leaving Mississauga’s mayor blindsided.
“I would have appreciated a heads up and further consultation with myself and the community,” Bonnie Crombie told reporters on Monday.
“We don’t have the road network in that area. We don’t have the commitment for the schools, the paramedic stations, the police stations, the fire stations … to build out a complete community. So we have a lot of concerns.”
Experts say the decision entirely cuts municipalities out of the planning process, giving developers a direct route to getting their desired projects approved on a quicker timeline.
“What the MZO does is circumvent and speed up the usual approval process,” Zack Taylor, an associate professor at Western University, previously told Global News. “Once the municipal zoning applying to the project is changed by an MZO and the project is deemed approved, it proceeds as it would (have if) the municipality followed the normal process.”
The decision to override Mississauga council is the latest sign of deteriorating relations between Queen’s Park and Mississauga.
After the province passed legislation at the end of 2022 dramatically reducing the funds homebuilders must pay to cities to build roads, sewers and other infrastructure, Mississauga city council embarked on a campaign of opposition.
Postcards were sent to every home in the city, blaming the Ford government for future property tax increases that local experts believe would stem from the new law.
During that episode, Ford accused Crombie of “whining” and told her to “get on board.”
“I see that Mayor Crombie’s out there handing out flyers and doing this — all I say is get on board, stop being disingenuous, you know, with the people of Mississauga,” Ford said. “It’s just absolutely wrong.”
Now, the decision to grant an MZO in Mississauga — one that city council did not request — marks the latest twist in relations between the two governments.
Crombie said the MZO effectively doubles the size of Lakeview Village, which has been in the planning process since 2010.
The project was first conceived as Inspiration Lakeview, a master plan created by the city and local community advocates before the current development corporation bought the land. It has since gone through round after round of discussions at the city’s planning and development committee.
“I am deeply disappointed the province has imposed an MZO overriding the City of Mississauga to double the master-planned community for Lakeview Village from 8,050 units to 16,000 (units),” Coun. Stephen Dasko, who represents that area of Mississauga, said in a tweet.
The province said that expanding Lakeview Village to deliver new housing as it strives to build 1.5 million homes by 2031 is aligned with its “work to tackle the housing supply crisis with Ontario’s billions of dollars of historic investments in transit and transit-related infrastructure.”
The decision to grant the MZO notably came without a request from Mississauga city council, directly contradicting how the Ford government promised to use the tool the in the past.
“I want to reiterate that every single MZO issued on non-provincially owned lands has been at the request of the local municipality,” housing minister Steve Clark told the Ontario legislature in 2021.
Mississauga council did not request an MZO for the Lakeview Village lands and a spokesperson for Clark told Global News this may not be the last MZO issued without the local greenlight to speed up and intensify home building.
“The government will continue to make use of the tools at its disposal in order to tackle the housing supply crisis by supporting the construction of the new homes Ontarians need and deserve,” they said in a statement.