Villain or Scapegoat?: The Ontario Municipal Board and Land Use Planning in Ontario

Resident groups, local politicians, and even provincial MPPs have repeatedly vilified the Ontario Municipal Board as a tool of the development industry, and as an unelected body undermining local democracy. However, the debate surrounding the Board's legitimacy and existence rarely considers the larger institutional and legal framework governing planning in Ontario and how that framework shapes the role of the OMB and planning policy in Ontario. This presentation contrasts the institutions, law, and practices of planning in Ontario with other jurisdictions in Canada and the US. It concludes that the public's frustration with the OMB masks larger issues present in Ontario's planning regime, issues that the removal of the OMB will not address.