[3] The Board had been criticized for its broad powers and authority to override the Planning Act decisions of municipal councils.
[4] The Ontario Municipal Board was replaced by the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal on April 3, 2018,[5] which was intended to have more limited powers and a reduced scope.
"[10] In so doing, it took over responsibility of these functions from the former Railway Committee of the Executive Council[11] and Office of the Provincial Municipal Auditor.
[37] The Archives of Ontario holds some past OMB decisions, but the collection is limited to the years 1906–1991 (but certain records in that period have been previously destroyed).
[42] The jurisdiction the Board could exercise was extremely broad in scope, and a Royal Commission inquiry headed by James McRuer reported in 1971 that it was impossible to catalogue all the powers that the Board possessed at that time,[43] although thirty principal Acts were identified.
After a controversial 2009 decision approved a community of up to 1,400 homes in the Manotick neighbourhood of Ottawa, Minister of Municipal Affairs Jim Watson was quoted in the local press as stating: "Has the OMB been perfect?
Yes, I think it can and I am quite prepared to work with the attorney general to try and ensure that the OMB is more reflective of community values [...] I've had a couple of discussions with the attorney general going back a month and we both agree we are going to take a thorough look at the OMB and see how we can further improve it based on changes we made a couple of years ago.
This proposal should open the door for discussion of the efficiency and justice of the unelected board that controls the majority of Ontario developments.