Forest Hill reeve Fred Gardiner, who was politically well-connected to newly elected PC premier George Drew, now promoted the idea of ambitious new programs to lay the capital infrastructure for growth. In 1946, the province passed the "Planning Act", which required each urban municipality to have its own Planning Board. A Toronto and Suburban Planning Board was founded, under the chairmanship of James P. Maher, and the vice-chairmanship of Fred Gardiner. The Board promoted specific projects, and also promoted a suburban 'green belt', a unified system of arterial roads and the creation of a single public transit network.