While provincial usurpation of land use planning decisions is troubling, it must be acknowledged that local decisions have brought their own concerns. It is local governments, at least in Ontario, that originally had the primary authority for decisions about land use. One hundred years ago they were authorized to enact zoning by-laws, which were used primarily to protect more or less homogenous areas from undesirable or incompatible land uses. The NIMBY (Not in my back yard) syndrome has continued and intensified, with some extreme adherents going BANANAs (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody.) The consequences of this mindset are all too evident in Toronto where vast areas are limited to single family homes, thereby guaranteeing sprawl as the population has increased over the decades.
So the challenge is to strike a balance between local and provincial involvement in planning – and also to embrace federal initiatives that help shape the development of our communities in healthy ways. I addressed this issue in an earlier blog which pointed out that the COVID crisis had opened the door to new ways of living that could transform our cities and greatly improve our quality of life – if we have the insight and courage to embrace the changes.