Yesterday, the Ontario government introduced the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025.
If passed, the government says it would protect Ontario’s economy and keep workers on the job by cutting red tape, getting shovels in the ground faster, and supporting the construction of homes, roads, and infrastructure. The proposed legislation also includes measures that would reduce gridlock, relieve backlog at the Landlord and Tenant Board, and promote increased supply of rental housing.
“People need homes, and they need them sooner, not later. Since Minister Flack and I came into the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, we’ve been focused on building homes faster and this legislation continues that work,” said Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Graydon Smith. “It’s about easing upfront costs for builders, streamlining approvals for minor variances, or helping rural communities, like Parry Sound-Muskoka, move ahead with communal water systems. These changes will make it easier to get good projects moving, keep workers on the job, and give the people of Ontario more housing options right across the province,” added Smith.
“Our government is building a more prosperous, resilient and competitive economy by fighting costly delays and regulatory burdens that slow the delivery of homes, roads and infrastructure that communities need,” said Rob Flack, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. “With tariffs and economic uncertainty taking aim at our economy, we’re working with municipal leaders and homebuilders to get shovels in the ground faster so we can build more homes and keep workers on the job.”
The Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025, if passed, and related actions would:
- Reduce barriers to building homes and infrastructure by streamlining approvals and site plan control in time for the spring building season. Site plan control is a planning tool that municipalities use to evaluate certain site elements such as parking areas and landscaping, which the province is streamlining to create consistent standards and lower costs for building.
- Undertake a section-by-section review of the Ontario Building Code to reduce regulatory burdens and costs while maintaining safety.
- Address delays and support backlog reduction efforts at the Landlord and Tenant Board by improving the speed and fairness of processes, limiting bad actors from abusing the system and including new measures to help balance the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants to encourage landlords to bring more rental housing online.
- Help cut red tape that is slowing down road construction by moving forward with a common set of road construction standards across all municipalities.
- Speed up decision-making and get shovels in the ground faster for water and wastewater in Peel Region by enabling a new public corporation model for Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon to deliver these services.
- Keep people and goods moving by prohibiting the reduction of vehicle lanes when municipalities install new bicycle lanes.
- Crack down on fraud in Ontario’s licensing system by strengthening eligibility requirements to get an Ontario driver’s licence.
- Help build housing for seasonal farm workers faster by making it easier to put septic systems in place on farm properties.
The Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025 builds on the government’s ongoing work with municipal partners to cut red tape and accelerate housing and transportation infrastructure for the province’s long-term stability, resiliency and prosperity.
From the government of Ontario
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This article isn’t mentioning how this will allow landlords to evict long term tenants. What Graydon/Doppler failed to mention is the ‘Lease Agreement Expiry’ initiative that’s included. Currently, a one year lease automatically morphs into a month to month lease agreement. This initiative will get rid of this which will allow the landlord to evict their tenant, for whatever reason and at any time, in order to increase the rent to whatever amount they so choose.
This will effectively create more homeless, especially because landlords would do this all the time. Every year, people will have to uproot and move. Struggle to find first and last for another apartment. Deposits for all the utilities … The current rental prices are so ridiculously expensive that if my landlord, I should say “when” my landlord … did this, I’d be hard pressed to find something I can afford. I’m a long term tenant with a great job, decent pay considering the area, and I’d probably have to use the food banks so I could pay the utilities on a room in a shared home.
And if you find yourself thinking that renters should just buy a home … LOL I wouldn’t be renting if I could have bought a home at any point in my life. And it’s impossible to afford to buy one now.
Ford is saying that these types of leases are hurting the rental market. Keeping landlords from renting out their spaces. That’s BS. No one can afford what they’re asking. THAT’S why their spaces are empty. Tax empty rental units. It’s been done before. Doesn’t have to be huge and I there will be a lot of more affordable prices showing up real fast.
And before landlords start attacking me here, yeah, many of you have to deal with nightmare situations, seriously bad, and something has got to be done to help you with them but this isn’t the way.
More homeless. Guaranteed.
And thank you for the stress and anxiety this has caused me, and I’m sure thousands of others. It’s exactly what we need going into the holidays. You know, cause good tenants dont need to feel safe and secure for too long.
Friends, this bill might strengthen “the economy” but it will do so at the expense of the people of Muskoka by making it easier for landlords to kick renters out, charge more to the next tenant, and make an already unsustainable housing market even worse.
Please call Graydon and let him know that this is bad for the people of Muskoka.
For those that won’t click the link to read the proposed act, please note that it includes the ‘Lease Agreement Expiry’ initiative. It is unfortunate that the Doppler felt no need to point this out as it is quite important – especially for a region already struggling with extremely high rent rates. This initiative would eliminate ‘Security of Tenure’, basically, ending rent-control.
If you are a long-term tenant, your landlord would be able to evict you without ‘just cause’ once your initial lease is up. Parasitic landlords, who already profit off the essential need for shelter, would have a significant financial incentive and the legal right to remove long-term tenants from their units in order to charge market rent.
So if you are already struggling with the instability and increased costs of the rental market in Muskoka please reach out to Graydon Smith and ask why he supports this and why he seemingly does not care about affordable housing in Muskoka.
Dennis Talon