Summary#

The Building Transit Faster Act, 2020 is an Ontario law enacted in 2020. It creates special powers for the Ontario Line, Scarborough Subway Extension, Yonge North Subway Extension and Eglinton Crosstown West Extension, and amends the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998 and Public Service Works on Highways Act. Its stated goal is to speed up these projects by removing barriers and streamlining processes.

• On land designated for a transit corridor, the Minister may require permits for specified building, road, excavation and utility work. Permit terms may be changed or permits cancelled.
• The Minister may require certain structures, trees, shrubs, hedges or prescribed things to be altered or removed. The law also allows entry to inspect possible immediate dangers and to carry out planning inspections and tests.
• For covered expropriations for these projects, hearings of necessity under the Expropriations Act do not apply. The Minister may set up a process for property owners to comment.
• Metrolinx may require utility companies to move infrastructure when Metrolinx considers it necessary. If costs are not agreed, Metrolinx must pay the utility company’s actual work costs.
• Metrolinx may seek municipal road, right-of-way or specified service access. If negotiations fail, the Minister may issue an order requiring access and setting terms.
• The law permits stop-work orders, inspections, administrative penalties and offences. It also allows the Minister to delegate many functions to Metrolinx or prescribed public bodies.

What it means for you#

• Property owners and occupants near designated land: Some work on corridor land or nearby may need a permit: generally, specified structures, roads, excavation or dewatering within 30 metres, and certain utility infrastructure work within 10 metres. The exact land covered depends on official designations, which may apply to some purposes of the Act but not others.
• Property owners: The Minister may enter for preview inspections, make records and conduct tests, with at least 30 days’ advance notice. These inspections cannot take place in a dwelling. Some owners are entitled to compensation for damage; compensation can be disputed at the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal. The law sets different rules for municipalities and local boards, which need not be compensated for the thing altered or removed.
• Owners affected by removal or danger work: Compensation and restoration are required in specified cases where the thing had required approvals and was not in violation of the permit rules or municipal by-laws. A person who obstructs certain inspections or removal work can lose compensation rights.
• Utility companies: They may have to move infrastructure, make reasonable efforts to obtain needed permits and property rights, and meet the notice deadline. If no date is agreed, the deadline must be at least 60 days after notice. A court may allow more time for difficulties complying.
• Municipalities: They may have to provide specified access under an order. The order may set mitigation measures, compensation or resources, technical standards, liability measures and dispute-resolution terms.
• Residents generally: The Act does not itself expropriate every affected property or require every project-related work to be removed. It does remove hearings of necessity for the covered expropriations. It does not create a general public application or appeal process for all decisions.

Money#

No cost estimate is included in the supplied material. No publicly available information.

• If Metrolinx and a utility company do not agree on cost sharing, Metrolinx must bear the utility company’s actual costs of required relocation work.
• The Act allows administrative penalties of up to $500,000, or a lower prescribed maximum. Separate offence fines can reach $50,000 for an individual or $500,000 for a corporation for a first offence, plus up to $10,000 for each continuing day; higher maximums apply after a later conviction.
• The Ontario Energy Board Act amendments generally prevent specified amounts payable by utility companies under this Act from being included in approved gas or electricity rates, unless regulations permit it.
• The material does not estimate government staffing, enforcement, project or municipal costs.

What is unclear#

• The supplied material does not include the regulations that can define prescribed work, penalty rules, and exceptions to the restrictions on including certain costs in utility rates.
• The Act allows the Minister to create permit reviews and a process for comments on proposed expropriations, but does not require either process to be established. Their details are not provided.
• The material does not show which specific properties have been designated or how the powers are being used.
• The full current versions of the two amended Acts were not supplied, so their full interaction with this law could not be checked.

Case for#

• The law appears intended to address delays when transit construction needs space, access, utility relocation or coordination with municipal services.
• A possible argument for the law is that clear powers and deadlines could help Metrolinx and the Minister resolve conflicts that might otherwise delay construction.
• The law includes some safeguards, such as advance notice for preview inspections, negotiation steps, compensation in specified cases and a court route for utility companies seeking more time.

Case against#

• The Minister and Metrolinx receive broad powers over permits, land entry, removal work and access. Some important choices depend on their opinions, and the law does not require every review or comment process to exist.
• Removing hearings of necessity for covered expropriations reduces one opportunity for affected owners to challenge the need for an expropriation. The law also bars certain legal claims against listed public bodies for specified decisions.
• Some compensation protections do not apply to municipalities and local boards. For other affected owners, eligibility and the amount can depend on approvals, compliance and the facts of the case.