Amalgamation

[neonjoe]

A small tidbit in the April 10 Cutting Red Tape news release that may have been overlooked.
The province will be removing all planning powers from the upper tier governments starting for some municipalities on July 1st with others like Waterloo Region coming into effect later.
When that happens we can say goodbye to the Countryside Line as the region will have no power to override the local municipalities who wish to change the line within their boundaries.

https://news.ontario.ca/en/backgrounder/...more-homes

Municipal Planning Responsibilities:
The More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 made changes that, once in force, will remove statutory powers under the Planning Act from seven upper-tier municipalities identified in the legislation: Durham, Halton, Niagara, Peel, Simcoe, Waterloo, and York. Ontario remains committed to reducing municipal duplication across the province to deliver on shared provincial-municipal priorities, all while supporting its municipal partners. Proposed amendments to the Planning Act, as part of this legislative package, would provide flexibility for when changes to planning responsibilities for certain upper-tier municipalities would come into force. For Peel, Halton and York Regions, upper-tier planning changes would come into effect on July 1, 2024, with others coming into effect at a later date. Once in effect, planning policy and approval responsibilities of the regional municipality will be removed and the lower-tier municipalities will assume primary responsibility for all planning in their geographies, except for matters requiring provincial approval.