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On January 22, 2026, the Province published new amending regulations to prescribe professional engineering as a "prescribed profession" for the purposes of complete applications under the Planning Act and the City of Toronto Act, 2006.
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (the "Ministry") originally posted the proposal on the Environmental Registry of Ontario on May 12, 2025 as ERO No. 025-0462 to seek feedback as to which certified professionals should be included in the list of "prescribed professionals". Based on the feedback received, the Province limited the designation to professional engineers only, given their strict codes of conduct, accountability and professional liability.
The Province implemented these changes by amending four existing regulations under the Planning Act regarding Consent Applications (O. Reg. 197/96), Plans of Subdivision (O. Reg. 544/06), Zoning By-laws (O. Reg. 545/06) and Official Plans (O. Reg. 543/06), to identify professional engineering as a prescribed profession for complete application purposes. This designation covers all engineering subspecialties under the P.Eng. license. Simultaneously, the Province created two new regulations under the Planning Act (O. Reg. 10/26) and the City of Toronto Act, 2006 (O. Reg. 11/26) respectively related to site plan control. These amendments mean that technical studies and reports prepared and stamped by professional engineers must be accepted by municipalities for the purposes of deeming a planning application complete, without requiring further review or revisions.
The Ministry also made additional technical changes to the Consent Applications Regulation, O. Reg. 197/97, to replace the image-based forms of consent certificates with written descriptions. The technical changes to O. Reg. 197/97 can be found here.
By requiring municipalities to accept technical studies and reports from professional engineers, the Province aims to shorten approval timelines and reduce procedural friction during development stages.
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