Civil Construction Industry Welcomes Provincial Commitment to Standardize Municipal Construction Practices
Ontario's municipalities own and manage more public infrastructure than the federal and provincial governments combined, with, on average, more than 50 per cent of their budgets allocated to construction and infrastructure. While provincial standards exist, Ontario's 444 municipalities have discretion in their implementation and have instead amassed hundreds of varying requirements for how to build and procure similar use projects, like roads, bridges, sewers and watermains. These differences cost taxpayers millions of dollars more, while reducing quality and productivity and increasing waste and carbon emissions.
The Toronto and Area Road Builders Association (TARBA), Greater Toronto Sewer and Watermain Contractors Association (GTSWCA), and the Heavy Construction Association of Toronto (HCAT) have advocated that following provincial standards, jointly administered by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and the Municipal Engineers Association, will result in reduced building costs and faster construction timelines through efficiencies and economies of scale.
"This announcement builds on the government's ongoing commitment to reduce red tape and build the critical infrastructure our communities need. We look forward to working with the provincial government and the ministry as part of the consultation process," said Raly Chakarova, Executive Director at TARBA. "Breaking down barriers by harmonizing practices across municipal boundaries is a real solution that will bring in faster construction timelines and create significant cost savings for taxpayers, particularly through initiatives such as the standardized and increased use of Recycled Crushed Aggregates."
"This is a pivotal moment for infrastructure development in Ontario," said Patrick McManus, Executive Director of the GTSWCA. "By standardizing construction specifications and contracts, we can reign in rising construction costs and lay the groundwork for sustainable growth and cost-effective infrastructure solutions, without fundamentally altering how we design, build, finance, or maintain our critical core infrastructure in the region."
"This is the time for the provincial and federal governments to step in and ensure that municipalities have predictable and continuous infrastructure funding to get projects out the door, shovels in the ground, and keep everyone employed," said Peter Smith, Executive Director at HCAT. "But municipalities need to drop their own barriers. There is no reason that a different asphalt type or watermain fitting needs to be used simply because a project crosses over Steeles Ave."
About GTSWCA
The Greater Toronto Sewer and Watermain Contractors Association (GTSWCA) serves as a collective voice for its members who build water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure across the Greater Toronto Area. www.oswca.org
About HCAT
The Heavy Construction Association of Toronto (HCAT) represents contractors in the heavy civil engineering construction sector, including bridge construction and rehabilitation, tunnels, marine construction, and structure foundations. HCAT advocates for best practices in infrastructure development while addressing industry challenges, providing educational opportunities, and promoting safety and sustainability. www.hcat.ca
About TARBA
The Toronto and Area Road Builders Association (TARBA) is the collective bargaining agent on behalf of unionized contractors involved in the new construction and maintenance of transportation infrastructure in the Greater Toronto and Simcoe Areas. TARBA advocates for policies and practices that promote safe, efficient, and sustainable infrastructure development. www.tarba.org
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Toronto Star
23-06-2025
- Toronto Star
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23-06-2025
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Toronto Star
23-06-2025
- Toronto Star
With Ford's government in one corner and city officials in the other, will Toronto's green homebuilding measures survive the brewing battle?
A battle is brewing over the fate of environmental standards that Toronto has long imposed on homebuilders, with the Ford government and developers in one corner and city officials in the other, the Star has learned. The fight includes a stern warning from the province to the city, and harsh words on both sides. City councillors are calling Premier Doug Ford's government 'inept' at drafting housing legislation. A developer's lobby group is blasting city hall as 'arrogant' and suffering from 'utter obliviousness' about the housing market. Ford's latest legislation aimed at boosting meagre housing builds in Ontario was introduced last month as Bill 17 and quickly passed in the legislature as Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act. The multi-pronged law includes a provision that municipalities cannot impose on developers requirements that exceed Ontario's building code, echoing a demand from developers who are suing the City of Toronto in a bid to kill its 'Green Standard' environment regulations. The Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON) cheered the apparent legislated death of requirements introduced in 2010 to ensure new buildings are low-emission and resistant to climate-change impacts such as flooding. Such municipal requirements increase projects' cost and complexity, exacerbating the affordable housing crisis, RESCON said. However, 'City staff have reviewed (the new law) and determined that there is no impact to the City's ability to continue to apply the (green standard) to new development,' stated a report to Mayor Olivia Chow's executive committee that met June 17. Requirements include bicycle parking at new multi-unit residential buildings, limits on hard surfaces to minimize stormwater runoff, highrise design that allows tenants to recycle rather than put everything in trash, and window glazing on a share of lower-floor windows to minimize strikes that kill birds. City staff also said the new law's restrictions on development charges — fees levied on builders to pay for sewers, roads and other infrastructure to service each project's new residents — will cost Toronto taxpayers at least $1.9 billion over the next decade. At the meeting, Coun. Gord Perks, council's housing chair, said the law fails its name because it will not protect Ontarians or build homes faster or smarter. Coun. Mike Colle, a former Liberal MPP and one of Chow's ceremonial deputy mayors, blasted the law as the latest in a series of Ford housing bills, each producing fewer and fewer new homes. The number of Ontario housing starts between January and April was the lowest since 2009. 'You can't build housing with stupid legislation — they don't know what they're doing,' Colle said, before taking direct aim at Rob Flack, the Progressive Conservative MPP who became minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing last March. 'Now they've got some new minister of municipal affairs who used to sell farm equipment — he's in charge of building,' homes, Colle said to gasps and laughs from his executive committee colleagues. Flack's online biography says the Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP is a former chief executive of Masterfeeds, a farm animal feed company. His office, which declined to respond to Colle, says the minister also remains a proud farmer. Chow, who has boasted of her good working relationship with Ford and his government, did not join the insults, instead focusing on the predicted $1.9 billion loss in development charge revenue. She urged the province to announce how they will make the city 'whole.' Richard Lyall, RESCON president, issued a scathing rebuttal, calling city staff's determination that the green standard can continue 'hallucinatory' and 'a display of utter obliviousness.' Colle's comments, he said, were 'childish' and 'disturbing' while committee recommendations to Ford would 'reverse virtually every meaningful provision of the legislation.' Flack's deputy minister, Martha Greenberg, then weighed in, sending city manager Paul Johnson a June 19 'clarification,' obtained by the Star, that attempts to set the record straight on the fate of Toronto's green standard. 'Municipalities cannot use provisions in the Municipal Act, City of Toronto Act, and Planning Act, including site plan control, to create and require construction or demolition standards for buildings,' including environmental requirements, she wrote. Greenberg added that the ministry 'has been directed to monitor outcomes to ensure actions are not taken to bypass this.' If necessary, the government will take 'additional legislative action to ensure municipalities are adhering to the provincial framework and reducing red tape in this space.' Asked to explain the city's position, a spokesperson said the green standard 'is not a bylaw enacted under Sections 7 or 8 of the City of Toronto Act, which Bill 17 referenced. As such, staff's review of Bill 17 did not find any impact on the City's ability to implement the (green standard) as part of the development review process.' Perks, the housing chair, said that as far as he's concerned, the green standard lives — unless city council says otherwise. 'Once again the province is showing they don't know how to write a law, they're a bit inept at it, and that's why they have had to rewrite planning legislation every six months since Doug became premier ...' said the Parkdale—High Park councillor. 'The province keeps insisting that they can pass a law that makes private market housing more viable, and they keep failing at that. In the meantime, city staff have given us clear advice that the current legislation does not remove our ability to have a green standard.'
