Halsbury's Laws of Canada – Planning and Zoning (2026 Reissue)

Annik Forristal is a partner at McMillan LLP whose practice is dedicated to the construction, infrastructure and development industries. She provides considered advice and representation on project delivery, contractual allocation and management of risk, land use planning and related approvals, project administration, claims management, and dispute avoidance. A practicing engineer before she became a lawyer, Annik is well placed to provide informed, practical advice to all players in the construction and development industries including owners, developers, municipalities, contractors, engineers and architects. Her project experience is wide-ranging and includes residential and mixed-use developments, university and hospital developments, recreation and entertainment facilities, municipal infrastructure projects, transportation projects, industrial facilities, renewable energy projects and district energy installations.

Christie Gibson, B.A. (Economics), J.D. is a Partner at McMillan LLP, and member of the firm’s Municipal, Land Use Planning & Development, Aviation, and Aerospace & Defence Groups. In her land use planning practice, she focuses on sophisticated land development matters, and she regularly advises commercial, residential, institutional, post-secondary, industrial, and government clients. Among other things, she handles redevelopment applications, evaluates potential sites, secures approvals and negotiates post-approval agreements, while navigating conflicts involving municipally-initiated instruments, parkland dedication, heritage and environmental concerns, and affordable housing and inclusionary zoning policies. She also regularly appears before the Ontario Land Tribunal. Christie was called to the Bar of Ontario in 2014, before that graduating from Osgoode Hall Law School and Cornell University. She has held several leadership roles in industry, including as the chair of the Ontario Bar Association Municipal Law Section, member of the Canadian Bar Association Municipal Law Section, steering committee member and speaker at Cambridge Forums, and Urban Land Institute (Women’s Leadership Initiative steering committee member and Mentoring Committee co-founder), and regularly lectures at universities and speaks at conferences. She is recognized as a leading lawyer by Chambers Canada and Best Lawyers.

Jonathan Tinney, RPP, MCIP, is a Principal at WW+P Architects + Planners, a multi-disciplinary planning, urban design, and architecture firm. His practice focuses on transit-oriented communities, masterplanning, municipal planning policy, and development approvals, advising public-sector clients, landowners, and developers on complex projects across the Greater Toronto Area, British Columbia, Alberta, and internationally. He has particular expertise in Ontario municipal planning processes, including Official Plan amendments, zoning by-law amendments, and Site and Area Specific Policies with a specific focus on planning strategies associated with major transit infrastructure delivery. In addition to his consulting practice, Jonathan is an adjunct member of the faculty at Toronto Metropolitan University where he teaches urban policy analysis and program development. He is a frequent contributor to industry conferences and publications on the integration of land-use planning and community design and holds a Master’s degree in Community and Regional Planning from the University of British Columbia.

Marc Kemerer, B.A. (Hons.), M.Sc., LL.B. is a Partner in the Municipal, Land Use Planning & Development Group at McMillan LLP. His practice encompasses all aspects of land use planning and development, municipal by-law and governance and aggregate extraction representing a broad range of clients and industry. He regularly attends before the Ontario Land Tribunal, the courts and municipal councils to advocate for a wide variety of clients and to obtain approvals for development and aggregate proposals. He is an active member of the Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association, serving on its land use planning committee, and he enjoys the frontier aspects of aggregate operations and operators. Marc was called to the Bar in 1995 and since that time has distinguished himself as a leading practitioner in the field of municipal and planning law, recognized as such by Novas Ree Urbis. He regularly writes on current topics facing the industry and has sat on the Executive of the Ontario Bar Association. Marc teaches a course in planning law at Toronto Metropolitan University to planning students, inspiring them to excel in this field. He has a B.A. (Hons) from McGill University, an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and an LL.B. from Queen’s University Law School.

Philip Evans, OAA, AAA, AIBC, NSAA, MRAIC, CAHP, is a Partner at ERA Architects, where his work sits at the intersection of architecture, heritage, retrofit, development, and public policy. Over the past 25 years, he has led conservation, adaptive reuse, design, and feasibility planning projects across Canada, with particular experience in coastal and smaller communities. His practice focuses on helping clients and communities manage cultural, heritage, and property assets in ways that support long-term value, economic resilience, and design integrity. Philip advises private and public developers, municipalities, provinces, community organizations, and private owners on complex sites where heritage, growth, and cultural identity overlap. He has led various initiatives including Culture of Small, topUPs, BASINS, and broader work related to adaptive reuse, retrofit, and sustainable growth. His work is grounded in collaboration, field-based research, and a belief that existing places can be active contributors to contemporary community building rather than static artifacts of the past.

Talia Gordner, B.A., J.D., LL.B., is a Partner at McMillan LLP and an expert in environmental law. Her advocacy practice covers a broad range of corporate and commercial matters with an emphasis in the management and resolution of complex environmental and regulatory disputes. Talia represents clients from a wide range of industries, including construction, oil and gas, and manufacturing, in environmental matters involving recent, ongoing and historical contamination and in the defence of regulatory and quasi-criminal federal and provincial investigations, regulatory enforcement actions and prosecutions. She assists clients in all areas of environmental compliance and advises on environmental risk, liability and due diligence issues at all stages of real estate, business and financing transactions. Talia has been recognized by Lexpert (since 2023), Best Lawyers (since 2022) and Chambers Canada (since 2026) in the area of Environmental Law and is a member of the Ontario Bar Association Environmental Law Section (Chair 2021-2022), the American Bar Association Section of Environment Energy and Resources’ Enforcement & Litigation Committee (Chair 2024-2026) and the Toronto Construction Association’s Environmental Committee.

Sharon Singh, B.Bus. (International Trade), LL.B., LL.M., ICD.D. is the co-head of the Environment and Indigenous practices at McMillan LLP. Sharon regularly advises proponents and contractors on major projects, including regulatory approvals, permitting, environmental review, and compliance strategies. She also advises on Indigenous community collaboration consultations, negotiated agreements, and equity arrangements that provide legal certainty while fostering long term relationships. Sharon is recognized as a leading lawyer in environmental, Indigenous, mining and ESG by Lexpert, Best Lawyers in Canada, and/or Chambers Canada.