The federal and Ontario governments will spend billions of dollars to cut development charges in major cities like Toronto by 50 per cent as they look to boost a struggling housing sector.

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Doug Ford were among the politicians at a major event Monday morning to unveil the overhaul of how new housing and its infrastructure are paid for in Ontario.

Between the two governments, the announcement is worth $8.8 billion over the next decade — money that will go to helping cities reduce the fees they charge homebuilders.

“To expand housing supply, increase housing affordability and create tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of careers in the skilled trades, we’re announcing this new Canada-Ontario partnership to build,” Carney said.

“More homes, lower housing costs, tens of thousands of new careers in the skilled trades. We’re looking to reduce the cost to build, help Ontarians save on the purchase of a home.”

The agreement goes to addressing the cost of development charges, which are fees charged to homebuilders when they embark on new housing projects in Ontario.

Get breaking National news

Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.

Builders have long complained that those fees are too high, suggesting they are passed directly onto new homebuyers, raising the price of housing sometimes by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Municipalities, however, have guarded against reducing them. The fees, they say, ensure new projects and new residents don’t cost current taxpayers more — they say the fees are needed for new roads, libraries and transit systems, along with water and wastewater.

“Our government will continue to deliver on our plan to protect Ontario in partnership with the federal government and municipalities by lowering the cost of building, getting shovels in the ground faster, cutting red tape and investing in workers,” Ford said in a statement.

The Ford government has tweaked the charges and how they’re administered, but has stopped short of either eliminating or introducing major caps to what municipalities can charge.

Now, the Canada-Ontario agreement will offer massive incentives to municipalities to give them funding to help pay for infrastructure, so they can reduce development charges by 50 per cent over the next three years.

“Municipalities will also be expected to support DC reductions, so that all three levels of government are supporting increased housing supply and affordability,” a news release announcing the agreement explained.

“Funding will also be made available for non-DC levying municipalities as well as for infrastructure projects prioritized by Ontario.”

Ontario also unveiled a plan with the federal government last week to waive the harmonized sales tax on eligible new builds for the next year.

The latest funding announcement comes a few days after Ottawa announced it was earmarking $1.7 billion for all provinces and territories to boost housing supply however they see fit.

— with files from The Canadian Press

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The federal Liberals accepted a Conservative proposal Monday to put guardrails around proposed new cabinet powers as they debated the government’s omnibus budget bill.

The Liberal government’s budget implementation legislation, Bill C-15, proposes to give federal ministers the ability to temporarily exempt individuals or corporations from some non-criminal federal laws — an approach the government refers to as “regulatory sandboxes.”

Some members of Parliament have expressed discomfort with the idea of granting such sweeping powers to cabinet in the interest of boosting competitive or economic forces.

Both interim NDP leader Don Davies and Green Leader Elizabeth May appeared at Monday’s finance committee meeting, where MPs were going clause by clause through the legislation.

Davies said such a ministerial override would present a “serious threat to Canada’s democratic foundations.”

“Shame on you,” May said after committee members did not adopt her own amendment to restrict the application of regulatory sandboxes.

4:00
Could Liberals gain majority without going to polls?

Conservative MP and committee member Sandra Cobena said she was concerned about the “immense concentration of power” implied in the proposal. She introduced amendments that she said would “meet the urgency of the moment” while balancing democratic standards.

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

The successful amendments, backed by Liberal members of the committee, included a requirement for ministers to consult with Canadians before ordering any legal exemptions, and to report back to Parliament.

Cobena’s amendments would also require the approval of both a cabinet minister and the president of the Treasury Board before an individual or corporation is shielded from a law. They also would clearly state that certain laws — including the Conflict of Interest Act and the Access to Information Act — cannot be overridden

“The government has heard opposition concerns … and we are willing to support the guardrails suggested by these CPC amendments,” said Liberal MP and committee member Carlos Leitao.

2:23
Ex-Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux to join Carney’s Liberals

MPs still had hundreds of clauses ahead of them before they broke for question period Monday afternoon.

The finance committee is on a tight timeline with the omnibus budget bill. Members of the finance committee were scheduled to meet for up to 12 hours in Ottawa on Monday to go clause by clause through Bill C-15.

Liberal MP Karina Gould, the committee chair, said she booked the lengthy meeting so House of Commons resources would be available to MPs late into the evening as they tackle more than 600 clauses in the bill.

MPs agreed earlier this month to a motion seeking to fast-track the bill through the committee and report stages of debate.

That motion said Bill C-15 must be considered at finance committee by Monday, which must report back to the House by Wednesday. It’s not yet clear when the final vote on the bill will take place.

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he “can’t wait” for midterm elections in the United States, after a Supreme Court ruling on tariffs did little to alleviate trade pressure on the provincial economy.

A ruling from America’s top court on Friday concluded President Donald Trump’s so-called “reciprocal” tariffs and duties on Canada related to fentanyl were unlawful, without touching sector-specific tariffs.

Tariffs imposed on steel, aluminum and autos, known as Section 232, are unaffected by the ruling. An additional 15 per cent tariff, which the president announced Saturday, largely does not impact Canadian products.

“The Supreme Court hasn’t changed, thankfully, anything here in Ontario or in Canada,” Premier Ford told reporters. “We’re still keeping an eye on Section 232, but don’t make no mistake about it. President Trump still has a lot of tools.”

Despite the broad strike-down of Trump’s tariffs, the levies that most impact Ontario remain in place.

Trump has imposed a series of other, sector-specific tariffs on several industries using Section 232 of the U.S. Trade Expansion Act, which allows the president to address “excessive” foreign imports deemed a risk to national security.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

The law requires the U.S. Commerce Department to investigate those imports and reach a conclusion justifying the tariffs, which can take months to complete.

Section 232 tariffs have been imposed on steel, aluminum and copper at a rate of 50 per cent; automobiles, heavy trucks and auto parts not compliant with CUSMA at a 25 per cent rate; and some furniture, kitchen cabinets and vanities at 25 per cent.

The auto and steel tariffs have already had major impacts on the provincial economy. Multiple vehicle investments in Ontario have been paused or suspended, while Algoma Steel laid off more than 1,000 workers last year.

A 10 per cent tariff was also imposed on softwood lumber under Section 232, on top of existing and separate anti-dumping duties.

The premier appeared again on CNN on Monday as part of his drive to convince American voters and elected officials to lobby on Canada’s and Ontario’s behalf.

It’s a strategy the provincial government has been pursuing for more than a year without yet seeing movement on tariffs. Ford has cancelled a contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink, removed American alcohol from the LCBO and visited Washington D.C.

The premier has said the hope of that strategy is to work around Trump’s unpredictability.

“It’s very challenging right now,” he said. “I just sit back some days, and I’m not the only one, everyone in the world sits back, (wondering) how can one person, one man create so much turmoil around the world? Not just here in Canada, around the globe. It’s pretty, pretty staggering. So, I can’t wait for the midterms.”

— with files from Global News’ Sean Boynton 

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.