Ontario politics

Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark said he wasn’t sure how many of the controversial land zoning orders the province plans to issue before the next election. "It's really just greenwash for the government's extraordinary misuse of MZOs to drive sprawl," said Phil Pothen of Environmental Defence.

By normalizing the use of an extraordinary power like the notwithstanding clause, Ontario's Doug Ford government is setting the stage for future suspensions of charter rights by provincial legislatures, writes columnist Max Fawcett.

City councillors in Stratford, Ont., should not have voted behind closed doors to seek a controversial land zoning order from the province, an independent investigator found. The order fast-tracked a since-cancelled proposal for a controversial glass factory.

The Ontario Society of Professional Engineers said it isn’t calling for the cancellation of the project, but has concerns about its environmental impact. The group also sounded alarms about a “lack of data and evidence” backing the proposal.

In a new policy paper, the Ontario Energy Association says the expansion of renewable resources like wind and solar could play a significant role in cutting emissions. But the industry group also argues governments shouldn’t phase out natural gas.

Should millions of litres of wastewater from the Greater Toronto Area flow into Lake Simcoe or Lake Ontario? The Ontario government is seeking to appoint an expert panel to help it choose from a slate of unpopular options.

The proposed highway project north of Toronto would run through the Holland Marsh, a portion of the protected Greenbelt. Though it has had strong local support for years, two nearby councils are now expressing reluctance about supporting the plan.

Ontario will keep its schools closed in June, Premier Doug Ford says, as he extends virtual-only learning until the summer break amid a waning third wave of COVID-19 infections and a vaccine rollout still in progress.

Ontario's electricity system operator has launched a review examining what it could look like if the province phases out gas plants. But with the province planning to rely more on fossil fuels in the coming decade, it’s unclear if the assessment will impact the government’s direction.

The three Ontario Divisional Court justices pushed back at times Wednesday. The changes in Bill 197 “have obvious potential significant environmental effects,” Justice David Corbett said.

Finding nature that can be set aside for conservation is a challenge in densely populated southern Ontario. But a coalition of environmental, Indigenous and agricultural groups have a plan to think beyond traditional ideas of provincial parks.

Lawyers representing several environmental groups argued Monday that the Ford government failed to meet the requirement to consult the public when it passed the law, which rewrote Ontario’s environmental assessment rules.

Last spring, Ontario’s auditor general warned the government that changes to environmental assessments in Bill 197 were “not compliant” with the law. Now, First Nations and environmental groups are asking a judge to review the decision.

The number of new additions to the list is unusually high this year — that’s because of logistical delays, not Ontario’s new endangered species law.

Analysts say it’s unlikely Line 5 will get turned off, although Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has ordered pipeline company Enbridge to do so next Wednesday. But if the pipeline did go offline, it could spur a scramble to meet fuel demand.