With 2025 just around the corner, several new laws and regulations in Ontario will be taking effect soon that will impact business owners, tenants, and those requiring childcare across the province.
The Ontario government and the City of Toronto will both be introducing new rules in 2025, and here are some of the ones that you should keep on your radar.
New renovictions bylaw
Drawing inspiration from a Hamilton bylaw enacted in 2024, Toronto formally adopted a Rental Renoviction Licence Bylaw in November to curb bad-faith evictions and protect tenants from “renovictions.” The bylaw officially comes into effect on July 31, 2025.
Renovictions describe situations in which tenants are evicted under the false pretense of necessary renovations so that landlords can significantly increase rents or refuse tenants from returning to their homes.
The City says the practice has become increasingly common in Toronto’s tight rental housing market and disproportionately impacts low-income and marginalized communities.
Starting July 31, 2025, tenants who have been issued an N-13 notice should contact the City to verify that their landlord is in compliance with the new bylaw. Under the new regulations, landlords issuing an N-13 notice to end tenancy will require a Rental Renovation Licence.
To apply for a licence, landlords will need to provide approved building permits, provide a copy of the N-13 notice, submit a $700 application fee, notify tenants of a licence application, post a tenant information notice in the building, and provide a report prepared by a qualified person noting that the renovation requires vacant possession.
Landlords will also need to complete a tenant accommodation/compensation plan and provide tenants with prescribed severance compensation where the tenant chooses not to return to the unit.
Zoning bylaw changes for nightclubs
Starting Jan. 1, 2025, the City of Toronto will be implementing updated licensing and zoning bylaws for restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues that seek to modernize the rules surrounding the city’s nightlife industry.
Key changes include clarified criteria and new names for business licence categories, retired and merged business licence categories with existing re-named categories, increasing permitted maximum areas that bars and restaurants can use for entertainment, and permitting entertainment establishments and nightclubs city-wide in most commercial zones.
As a result, restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues currently holding business licences might need to transition to a new licence type, depending on the activities and services they provide.
The zoning bylaw changes for nightclubs are aimed at reducing the clustering of nightclubs in the downtown core. Still, entertainment establishments must be located in a non-residential building, the only nightclub in the building, and located on the first storey or in the basement.
Increased fees on 407 ETR
Starting Jan. 1, 2025, Ontario’s Highway 407 ETR will be rolling out a new rate schedule that will affect how much you’ll have to pay depending on the vehicle you drive. The new vehicle classifications aim to better reflect each vehicle’s impact, including motorcycles (charged 0.8x of light vehicle rate) and medium-sized vehicles (charged 1.5x of light vehicle rate).
The roll rate for light vehicles will range from three to 14 per cents per kilometre, depending on the time of day and zone you travel on the highway. Instead of the highway’s current four zones, there will be 12 zones starting next year, which will allow the highway operator to set different toll rates for each section.
The annual transponder lease in January 2025 will also cost $29.50 plus tax.
Ontario Building Code
The 2024 Ontario Building Code comes into effect on Jan. 1, 2025, with a three-month grace period that lasts until March 31, 2025 for certain designs that are already underway.
The new Building Code seeks to reduce regulatory burdens for the construction industry, increase the safety and quality of buildings, and make it easier to build housing. The latest addition streamlines processes for the sector and increases harmonization with the National Construction Codes by eliminating at least 1,730 technical variations between the provincial and national requirements.
The provincial government says the new code was developed in consultations with partners in the sector, including building officials, fire prevention officials, architects, engineers, builders, and the construction industry.
Child care
In 2025, the Ontario government says it is taking the next step in lowering child care fees for families as part of the national Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system with a new fee cap to reduce costs for families as well as a cost-based funding approach to provide more stability for operators.
Starting in January 2025, parent fees will be capped at $22 per day for children under the age of six in CWELCC programs, which is estimated to result in additional savings of nearly $300 million in 2025 for families.
Ontario’s cost-based funding approach for child care operators — which also comes into effect on Jan. 1 — replaces the “revenue replacement approach” the government used between 2022 to 2024, where operators were eligible for the amounts required to buy down the parent fees (plus cost escalation).
“The new funding approach prioritizes a simple and easy-to-administer system that is consistent across the province and is representative of the true costs of operating child care,” the province says.
New protections for digital platform workers
Starting July 1, 2025, Ontario’s Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act will take effect, which introduces a suite of new protections for workers in digital platform-based services like Uber and DoorDash.
The new regulations apply to workers and operators of digital platforms, regardless of their employment status under the Employment Standards Act (ESA). Under the Act, operators must pay at least the ESA-prescribed minimum wage for each work assignment, provide details about how worker pay is calculated, and establish recurring pay.
Operators are also barred from withholding tips, and workers cannot be removed from digital platform access without written notice (except in cases that involve public safety, legal restrictions, etc.). Ontario will be appointing compliance officers to investigate violations and issue penalties.
GST/HST Tax Break Deadline
Back in November, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a two-month GST relief on groceries for Canadians ahead of the pricey holiday season.
The temporary tax break — which went into effect on Dec. 15 — applies to several categories of products, including those related to childcare, alcoholic beverages like beer and wine, groceries, decorative items for the holidays, and books. The cuts also applied to restaurant meals and takeout.
The federal government estimates that a family spending $2,000 on qualifying foods would see GST savings of over $100 over the two-month period. Along with this, the province also announced that it would be removing the HST from qualifying goods, meaning the same $2,000 basket of purchases would realize savings of $260 over the two months.
However, this temporary tax break is set to expire on Feb. 15, 2025.
Updated immigration levels
In October, Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced Canada’s 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan, which seeks to pause population growth in the short term. For the first time, the levels plan includes controlled targets for temporary residents (specifically international students and foreign workers), as well as for permanent residents.
“In response to the evolving needs of our country, this transitional levels plan alleviates pressures on housing, infrastructure and social services so that over the long term, we can grow our economic and social prosperity through immigration,” the federal government said in a press release.
“This unprecedented plan offers a comprehensive approach to welcoming newcomers— one that preserves the integrity of our immigration programs and sets newcomers up for success.”
The 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan is expected to result in a population decline of 0.2 per cent in 2025 and 2026, before returning to a population growth of 0.8 per cent in 2027. Compared to 2024’s plan, the federal government will be reduced from 500,000 permanent residents to 395,000 in 2025.
Along with the temporary resident reduction measures announced in September, the Canadian government expects to see the country’s temporary population decline by 445,901 in 2025.
