North American Giants Leading the Way in Business Innovation

After spending precious, awful moments with those whose loved ones are being held captive by Hamas in Gaza, I couldn't help but think of the Seder meals I'm grateful for and eagerly anticipate with my family.The Haggada, the Jewish scripture that rules the Seder dinner, devotes a significant amount of space to our forefathers' hardships—the bricks, mortars, and tears. It is how we mourn and give meaning to our people's suffering.The next Seder, in Spring 2024, will become vividly and tragically personal for the Jewish community around the world as we reflect on my people's suffering and the meaning we make of it in times of success, as well as our steadfast refusal to be bullied, smeared, and eradicated.The Jews' exodus from Egypt began with Moses' four simple words: "Let my people go."Today, that message is addressed at the terrorist cowards hiding behind 239 Jewish hostages—and, let us not forget, innocent Palestinian civilians—while raining rockets on the world's only and only Jewish state. Moses reunited his people. And so shall we.Ontario is now experiencing a housing crisis. It did not begin yesterday, and it will take a long time to resolve. For years, the federal and provincial governments were unwilling to intervene in housing policy, which was viewed as primarily a municipal matter. 

This has evolved substantially during the previous two years.

Senior governments around the country have begun to grasp that they have the resources to boost housing creation. If municipalities refuse, they can step in. Premier Ford deserves a lot of credit for starting the ball moving. His was the first major provincial government to take decisive steps to build more housing. However, he is currently squandering his opportunity.I've put my neck out several times to support many of Premier Ford's policies, even when they were flawed and contentious. I want him to achieve his goal of doubling house construction in Ontario. Things have recently taken a negative turn. I won't go into too much detail on the provincial government's recent housing issues. Greenbelt politics loom large, but I believe they are a symptom of a larger problem: a preference for ad hoc decisions over major rule changes. Political discretion is a major contributing factor to the current housing problem. Many people assume that housing has always been a free-market industry. That politicians sit back and let developers do whatever they want. That could not be further from the truth. Since the beginning of modern zoning, most places have made it unlawful to construct anything else than detached residences. You couldn't even build a duplex in the majority of Toronto until last year! Even when denser forms of housing are permitted, they must still obtain city approval. Because city councilors are very attentive to their constituents, the approval procedure is frequently delayed, raising project costs and limiting the number of units created—if they are built at all. 

The Ford administration has frequently battled discretion with discretion. 

Ministerial zoning orders have been their preferred mechanism for implementing housing projects that have faced municipal opposition. Bill 23 represented a shift towards a broader policy approach. Imposing new regulations on towns rather than battling over individual projects is a positive strategy. The report from the province's Housing Affordability Taskforce provided support for the new strategy. The report made 55 suggestions, including the construction of 1.5 million residences over the course of ten years. The paper provides a credible plan to achieve that goal. The administration has made some headway toward implementing the report's recommendations. According to their status report, 23 recommendations have been fully implemented, 14 are in process, and 37 are being reviewed. That is not awful. Still imperfect, but a nice beginning. Unfortunately, the premier has recently become sidetracked, battling with the feds. The point of contention is that the federal housing minister has been striking arrangements with municipalities to upzone in exchange for federal funds via the Housing Accelerator Fund. I can't comment on the Premier's motivation for this dispute, but it's myopic

The federal minister is providing political cover for the premier here.

 

He is persuading city governments to implement severe reforms that the premier has not previously been willing to enforce. Indeed, many of these recommendations are directly from the Housing Affordability Taskforce report. The premier does not need to drive the bus, but he should not stand in front of it. If the premier is upset that the federal minister is infringing on his territory, he can resolve the situation with a single press conference. He can completely commit to executing all of the Housing Affordability Taskforce's recommendations on a timely basis. If he does not, the next Premier will. All of the leading candidates for the Ontario Liberal Party leadership have pledged to carry out the task group recommendations. He can return to the driver's seat and be the man who solves Ontario's housing catastrophe. Alternatively, he can be remembered as the dying gasp of Toronto NIMBYism.

Comments

Search This Blog

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Technology in Business Conflict Resolution

Business Research in a Global Context

Lessons Learned from Business Conflicts in the USA and Canada