gristle
Senior Member
So, if you happen to disagree tribunal decision to resolve a particular dispute, within the applicable legislative planning framework here in Ontario that somehow means all of the Environmental and Lands Tribunals of Ontario are somehow corrupt - that is a pretty bold statement in a country with such strong goverance and oversight as we have here in Canada.
No, that's not what he said at all.
The OMB can act in what reasonably appears to be an excessive and arbitrary manner (because going beyond the mere legal definition of allowable action, the scope of the OMB is quite excessive). When the lawyer of a developer can identify a board member as being "pro-development" then pretending that the legislative planning framework is some sort of a rigid, top-down structure that imposes specific outcomes is false. The OMB tribunal system allows for extreme parameters within which decisions can be made and subsequently imposed by force of law. The members have significant power because the framework itself defines what can be construed as being "legal." Excessive is when the OMB allows an approved and legal city plan - work carried out by planning professionals and passed by the democratically elected city council - to be broken up by arbitrary decisions of a single board member. That the OMB can break apart secondary plans of cities - and do so much more - indicates that there is far too much power in the hands of too few people, and that the legal framework as defined is excessive.
You should remember that the tribunal member who made this particular decision has no background in city planning. His decisions are now defining the planning for the entire area. The city's planning instrument has been nullified by him, and the work of the democratically-elected council has been invalidated because this single OMB member.
Protecting bad laws out of self-interest is in no way equal to promoting civil justice.