Phil Pothen
Phil Pothen is Ontario Environment Program Manager at Environmental Defence, one of Canada's leading environmental advocacy organizations. He authored Environmental Defence's submission opposing Bill 98, documenting how the legislation removes key municipal tools for climate-resilient housing while doing nothing to address the actual causes of housing supply shortfalls.
Connected Scandals
Ford's Bill 98 would permanently strip Ontario municipalities of the power to require EV charging, tree canopy, bird-friendly glass, and energy standards from developers — handing a legislative victory to RESCON, the industry lobby already suing Toronto in court over the same rules. Cities have already frozen new green standard programs in anticipation.
As Environmental Defence's Ontario Environment Program Manager, Pothen authored the organization's formal submission opposing Bill 98's removal of municipal green building authority, providing detailed legal and technical analysis of the bill's impact.
A developer is seeking what The Narwhal reports would be Lake Muskoka's first-ever Minister's Zoning Order — a provincial override of local planning for a large all-season resort in Gravenhurst — and the MZO was reportedly a condition of buying the land from the province itself, making Ontario both the seller and the regulator.
Environmental Defence counsel who flagged the province's seller-as-regulator conflict of interest in the Cliff Bay Muskoka MZO — the same government that sold the land through Infrastructure Ontario is the regulator being asked to grant the zoning override.