Companies and unions building worker training centres using money from Ontario's embattled Skills Development Fund could soon bypass planning laws, raising "significant concerns" for the province's municipalities and opposition parties.
The government recently passed a labour bill that includes provisions to exempt the centres from the Planning Act, saying they are key to its strategy to boost the skilled trades and construction workforce.
But the Association of Municipalities of Ontario said while it supported similar exemptions in the past for institutions like schools and hospitals, giving them to anyone building a training centre is another matter.