Oshawa Mayor Carter Statement on Bill 23, the province’s most recent housing supply bill

The following statement is being issued on behalf of Dan Carter, Mayor of the City of Oshawa:

“The City of Oshawa, like other Ontario municipalities, is concerned about the Provincial Government’s passing of Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act, as there are unintended consequences that may impact our city economically, socially and environmentally. Bill 23 has numerous changes to the Planning Act, Development Charges Act and Ontario Heritage Act, that will significantly impact how we will plan for and recover the costs associated with growth.

The City welcomes growth as it strengthens our community. In fact, the Conference Board of Canada projects Oshawa GDP will grow by 4.4% in 2022, with 2023 GDP growth forecasted at 2.2 per cent. Further, the City of Oshawa is reporting 2022 year-to-date building permit activity exceeding any year in Oshawa’s recorded history. Our previous annual build permit record was set in 2017 at $614 million. The City has shattered this record with $877 million in building permit values in 2022, which is double the pace of 2021.

We believe growth should pay for growth. Currently, development charges are collected to fund infrastructure projects required for our growing community like new recreation centres, bridges and roads. However, with this new legislation, it is clear that there will be a financial impact to the taxpayer and the City. Removing or restricting the City’s ability to collect and use development charges to fund critical infrastructure projects will result in the need to fund these costs by increased taxes for all Oshawa taxpayers. In addition, the City would be acquiring less parkland and less cash-in-lieu of parkland, resulting in a greater financial burden that would shift from the developer to the Oshawa taxpayer to maintain the amount of parkland required in new communities.

As this has recently been passed by the Province, it is too early to provide definitive financial implications of the passing of Bill 23. We will continue to monitor and assess the implementation of the legislation as well as propose solutions to minimize the impact.”