Ontario’s latest omnibus bill, Bill 60, Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025 (“Bill 60”) aims to speed up planning approvals across the Province of Ontario (the “Province”). But faster doesn’t always mean smarter, and the changes will have wide-reaching impacts for municipalities, developers and landowners.

In our May 2025 newsletter, we summarized the Province’s most recent municipally focused omnibus bill (Bill 17, Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025), noting the Province’s preference for using words like “Protect,” “Faster” and “Smarter” to describe what its suite of legislative changes were intended to accomplish. Six months later, we are reviewing yet another omnibus bill (Bill 60), whose title gives further insight into the mindset of the Ford government.

Bill 60’s message is clear – when it comes to facilitating planning approvals and getting shovels in the ground, the Province needs stakeholders to move even faster. The legislature is fully prepared to exempt and, if needed, unilaterally approve projects to get Ontario building homes, facilities, infrastructure, transit and job-generating uses at a greater pace and within a shorter time frame. Bill 60’s legislative changes are intended to facilitate (and motivate) developers, builders, landowners and municipal authorities into action.

We do note that two words present in the Province’s title for Bill 17 – “Protect” and “Smarter” – are conspicuously absent from Bill 60’s title. As will be described in our latest summary below, certain “protections” are being retooled or removed, likely based on the perception that they have been the cause of “delays” in achieving the Province’s stated goal of building 1.5-million new homes by 2031 in an effort to improve affordability. As for whether Bill 60 is “Smarter,” that determination will need to be made in retrospect. Bill 60 only received royal assent on November 27, 2025, with certain of its changes held back for future proclamation. As was the case with Bill 17, it will be important for all stakeholders to keep track of what currently applies, what will apply and what may never be applied.