By Pepper Parr
December 9th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
She lives and breathes.
Burlington MPP Natalie Pierre
Natalie Pierre was a no-show for the all candidates meeting last election. She won the seat by a meager 40+ votes.
Chose not to take part in an all-candidate debate during the last election, Natalie Pierre , Burlington’s MPP will be speaking to her motion in the provincial legislaturethis week.
Queen’s Park Observer reports that PC Natalie Pierre has a (non-binding) motion that could “require municipal development charges to be disclosed as a distinct and clearly identifiable line item on all purchase agreements for new home sales.”
Not a bad idea – wonder what the development community and the lawyers who draft the sales agreement think about it?
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Cheryl …. Fair point. My criticism is about performance and accountability, not personalities. The record stands on its own.
Wayne, I was with you 100% and agreed with how you positioned your comment until the last sentence. That last snipe at the mayor did you a disservice and detracts from what you say.
Mr. Gaetan, putting the make-up of development charges or community benefit fees as line items in the make-up of the house price cost will do nothing to make the purchase of a new build home more affordable. Will the cost make-up also clearly detail the developer’s profit margin.
The cost to install all city services to a new development rightfully should fall upon the developer, and so flow through to the home purchaser. Who else should be saddled with those costs? The existing property tax payers? That would be unjust!
Community benefit fees charged by the City are basically a quid pro quo the developer must pay so that it can build as it wants whilst allowing them to thumb their noses at the city’s zoning and other by laws.
PC MPP Natalie Pierre’s non-binding motion to require that municipal development charges be clearly itemized on all new-home purchase agreements is a constructive and welcome step toward greater transparency in Ontario’s housing market. Buyers deserve to understand exactly what they are paying for, and development charges – along with community-benefit fees – ultimately flow through to the price of a home. Making these costs visible is simply good consumer protection.
The public often hears the argument that higher development-related charges are necessary to support municipal services, yet those same charges are routinely embedded in sale prices without explanation. Community benefits agreements are used to allow developers to build higher, that can add cost to each unit, it also increases the total number of units. More units mean more households sharing condo fees, more people supporting local businesses, and ultimately more annual property-tax revenue for the municipality. That should, in theory, reduce the pressure to load so many up-front costs onto individual buyers.
Requiring clear disclosure will not, on its own, solve affordability challenges – but it will bring much-needed clarity to a system that has long operated in the dark. People make one of the largest purchases of their lives with limited visibility into these added costs. MPP Pierre’s motion recognizes that transparency is not anti-development; it is pro-consumer and pro-accountability.
If municipalities, developers, and the province all claim to support affordability, this is exactly the sort of straightforward measure that should have broad support. Transparency builds trust – and trust is essential if we want the public to believe that new housing growth is being managed fairly and responsibly.
Natalie Pierre “showing up” at Queen’s Park is news only because she’s been missing in action since the day she was elected — skipping debates, avoiding public forums, and staying invisible while drawing a full taxpayer-funded salary. Burlington hasn’t had an active MPP; it’s had a placeholder. At this point, her record isn’t just weak — it’s an insult to every taxpayer who expects even the bare minimum of representation. She’s been so ineffective she could qualify to be the Mayor of Burlington !!