A housing Hail Mary and a cross-partisan curveball

And Ford's not-so-secret fundraiser

ABOVE THE FOLD

Hot off the presses! Minister PAUL CALANDRA’s hotly anticipated (and heavily redrafted) housing legislation has landed on the Clerk’s table. Here’s what it does and doesn’t do — and why Oppo critics and stakeholders say it misses the mark.

On development charges: It’s another walkback. The government is scrapping the five-year phased approach to the fees municipalities charge developers for infrastructure such as sewer pipes and new roads. Cities and towns weren’t happy about the original fee changes, saying they’d be out billions in lost revenue.

On campus: Like colleges, universities will be free from regular planning rules in order to build more student housing, stat. That’ll help the province hit its housing goals as dorms will count toward the total.

On MZOs, which the Ford government has used prolifically to bypass local planning and decision-making: There’s a new process in which MZO hopefuls must align with provincial policy and consult with the public and Indig…