Premier Doug Ford’s government is considering making restrictions on building heights and certain construction activity in the flight paths of helicopters that bring patients to two downtown Toronto hospitals permanent.
The Ford government issued a minister’s zoning order (MZO) early last year to restrict the heights of buildings constructed in the paths Ornge “air ambulances” fly to transport patients to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and St. Michael’s Hospital. The order was set to expire at the end of this May, like how a similar earlier MZO issued by the previous Liberal government had also been temporary.
Through separate regulatory consultation postings on Wednesday, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing proposed changes to its hospital-heliport MZO. One is “to remove the expiry date” of the zoning order, which the posting says Health Minister Sylvia Jones had asked for and that Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Rob Flack “is considering.”
A second posting states that Flack “is considering requests from the landowners” of a few properties within the several blocks between SickKids and St. Michael’s “to make site-specific amendments” to the MZO. It also states the municipal affairs and housing minister is considering “minor technical changes relating to reference points, terminology, labels, tables and small minor map adjustments” to the MZO and maps connected to it, at the hospitals’ request.
The second posting doesn’t include any more specific information about what the “amendments” the landowners asked for are, nor what the “minor technical changes” requested by the hospitals are.
Neither the health nor housing ministers’ offices responded to questions The Trillium asked them in emails before this story’s publication on Thursday.
A source in the development industry shared figures suggesting that thousands of in-progress and planned housing units could be lost if the MZO is made permanent. The “no development” zone created by the MZO is much more strict than the one imposed by the existing City of Toronto bylaw.
“To help ensure decisions are made in a transparent manner and support government priorities, the Ministry is seeking feedback on whether this request should be considered and any additional information that may help inform a decision,” both posts say. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is accepting public feedback in response to each until May 2, 2025.
MZOs are a provincial tool most often issued by the housing minister. Using them, the provincial government can overrule municipal planning decisions and rules. Previous Ontario governments seldom used MZOs — albeit the previous Liberals did to keep the helicopter flight paths to SickKids and St. Michael’s unimpeded.
The Ford government has made more regular use of MZOs. It has most commonly granted them to help development projects by reducing restrictions on them or, at least theoretically, facilitating their fast-tracking.
The Ford government’s hospital-heliport MZO came after Unity Health, the hospital network St. Michael’s belongs to, and SickKids sent a letter expressing concern about a construction crane impeding the flight paths to the then-housing minister requesting it in the summer of 2023. Jones, the health minister, also asked for it, according to a news release the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing published later that year.
The existing height restrictions already caused headaches for a City of Toronto-led affordable housing project at Toronto’s historic bus terminal.
In December 2023, developers submitted final bids to build tall towers on the city-owned land. One month later, the MZO dropped and forced all sides back to the drawing board to figure out how to adjust to the shorter height limits.
The city adjusted to the new reality and ensured no housing units would be lost in the smaller building. In late 2024, Mayor Olivia Chow announced the project was back on track.
