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THURSDAY JULY 18, 2019 dentistoakville.com 905-842-6030 WINNER OF BEST WINDOW COVERING & BLIND CENTRE SINCE 2006 High quality wood&vinyl shutters 905.691.4455 www.shuttersetc.ca SHUTTERS ETC.Take the first step and get a Family Registry Estate Planner™905-257-1100 Rememberwhennewcars cost $1,300? 3164 Ninth Line, Oakville, ON • glenoaks.ca GlenOaksFuneral Home&Cemetery byArborMemorial Choose your budget andmonthly terms to plan final arrangements, and take advantage of today's prices. Arbor Memorial Inc. AAAAAUAUAUTOTOTOPRPRPROOOOO OOOAOAOAKVKVKVILILIL EELELELE 2212212 2 W2 yecroft Road, Oakvkvillilleee 905-469-24422 autoprooakville.mechanicnet.com MECHANICAL SERVICES Michelle Cooper Insurance & Financial Services 905-826-4900 www.michellecooper.ca Get a quote Bundle your home and auto for better savings MAKING A SPLASH Two-year-old Jacob Chiu beats the heat while having fun at Isaac Park splash pad. With temperatures soaring this weekend, Oakville's 16 splash pads are sure to be popular spots. Visit oakville.ca for a full listing of locations. Graham Paine/Torstar It's a local resolution that poli- ticians in Halton Region are hop- ing will spark a provincial move- ment to push the province to elim- inate what many municipal offi- cials call an antiquated system of provincial oversight on local planning and development deci- sions. Halton Regional Council voted unanimously July 10 to demand Premier Doug Ford's Progressive Conservative government imme- diately cease imposing the old On- tario Municipal Board (OMB) rules on the Local Planning Ap- peal Tribunal (LPAT) - the body that the previous Liberal govern- ment created to replace the OMB. Ultimately, the region wants the tribunals eliminated entirely, saying they delay the construc- tion of new housing and drive up the costs. "Barring (the province) doing the right thing, this will be the election issue in 2022," said Bur- lington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, who is calling on other cit- ies to join the fight individually and through organizations such as the Association of Municipali- ties of Ontario (AMO). "If they want to be more than a one-term government they're go- ing to have to start listening to the community on all of their poli- cies," she said. "This is just the lat- est. Their cuts to essential servic- es, downloading costs to munici- palities are exceedingly unpopu- lar. They are aware of that." Municipal councils can make decisions on everything from tax- es to traffic. Planning is the only front on which locally elected pol- iticians are subject to provincial oversight, she said. She accused the Ford govern- ment of gratifying the develop- ment industry by turning back the clock on the LPAT through its omnibus housing Bill 108, More Homes, More Choices Act. The old OMB rules favour de- velopers because they are permit- ted to start their cases from scratch, as if the municipality's planning decisions and rules didn't apply, Meed Ward said. Un- der the Liberals' LPAT rules, de- See 'WE'RE, page 2 REGION WANTS PROVINCIAL PLANNING TRIBUNALS ELIMINATED TESS KALINOWSKI tkalinowski@thestar.ca A lw ay s on lin e fir st a t in si de ha lto n. co m /c ol dc as e THIS WEEK Mom is 1 of 6 patients to vanish after fleeing former psych hospital.