Halton Hills staff welcome…

Halton Hills staff welcome the opportunity to provide comments as part of the Provincial consultation on proposed regulatory framework under the Special Economic Zones Act, 2025. Town staff offer the following general comments:

Town staff had previously submitted comments through ERO posting 025-0391 – the Special Economic Zones Act. During this time, staff’s main concern was what the criteria would be for a special economic zone, vetted project and trusted proponent. Town staff appreciate that the province has now released criteria, but recommend that the province consider the following additional criteria:

Including a public process for establishing Special Economic Zones;
That the process to designate a Special Economic Zone be done in collaboration/consultation with the local municipality in which the proposed Zone would be located;

Town staff encourage the province to consider long term policies to ensure the zone, project and proponent are used for what was originally approved over the long term and/or how the zone, project and/or proponent may change over time; and,

Town staff recommend that there is a strong “Made in Canada” approach to selecting projects and proponents that should be led by organizations based in Canada and whose proposed projects would be of benefit to Canadians.