Latest news with #Bill17
Canada Standard
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Canada Standard
Green Building Standards Unaffected by Controversial Provincial Legislation, Toronto Says
After Ontario's Bill 17 was fast tracked to royal assent, Toronto city staff say the new legislation won't affect the city's standards for green buildings. The Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act was rushed through to approval June 3 without the typical public hearings and standing committee review. It drew opposition for provisions that some organizations said would strip municipalities of their power to enforce green building standards-rules requiring developers to design buildings in ways that conserve water and energy and cut greenhouse gas emissions, for example. Cities like Toronto have relied on the Municipal Act and the City of Toronto Act to support standards like its Toronto Green Standard (TGS). But that authority was based on a "grey area" of the provincial Building Code Act that was "generally interpreted to mean that if a building code requirement actively conflicts with a municipal bylaw, then the building code requirement takes precedence," Bryan Purcell, vice-president of policy and programs at The Atmospheric Fund (TAF), told The Energy Mix in May. Organizations like TAF warned that Bill 17 risked undermining that authority by clarifying the grey area. With the new legislation, the Building Code Act now states that "certain sections of the Municipal Act, 2001 and the City of Toronto Act, 2006 do not authorize a municipality to pass by-laws respecting the construction or demolition of buildings." View our latest digests Alexandra Sanita, a spokesperson for Ontario's municipal affairs and housing minister Rob Flack, said in a statement to The Narwhal that the legislation "standardizes construction requirements and provides consistency, clarifying that no municipality has the authority to enforce a by-law that supersedes the Ontario Building Code." "Through these changes, the City of Toronto's Tier 1 of the Green Building Standard would not be allowed as they mandate requirements for new development planning applications that go beyond the Ontario building code." Tier 1 is a list of mandatory green building requirements. Other tiers, which set incentives but are not mandatory, would still be allowed. But Toronto city staff later released an assessment of the Act's impacts. They determined that "there is no impact to the City's ability to continue to apply the TGS to new development." When asked how the Act's impacts on other legislation, like the Municipal Act , might affect the TGS, the City told The Energy Mix it "cannot provide further comment on the topic at this time" because of legal action against the TGS filed last year. Comments submitted to the legislature by the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) state that the new amendment does not change the legislative powers of the province to set construction standards, and that municipalities can pass by-laws in pursuit of economic, social, and environmental, including for climate change. "Municipal action in pursuit of those listed goals, as long as they do not require specific construction standards, will not conflict or overlap with provincial authority," says CELA. However, CELA criticizes other parts of the Act that limit cities' access to information about new buildings. Source: The Energy Mix
Canada News.Net
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Canada News.Net
Green Building Standards Unaffected by Controversial Provincial Legislation, Toronto Says
After Ontario's Bill 17 was fast tracked to royal assent, Toronto city staff say the new legislation won't affect the city's standards for green buildings. The Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act was rushed through to approval June 3 without the typical public hearings and standing committee review. It drew opposition for provisions that some organizations said would strip municipalities of their power to enforce green building standards-rules requiring developers to design buildings in ways that conserve water and energy and cut greenhouse gas emissions, for example. Cities like Toronto have relied on the Municipal Act and the City of Toronto Act to support standards like its Toronto Green Standard (TGS). But that authority was based on a "grey area" of the provincial Building Code Act that was "generally interpreted to mean that if a building code requirement actively conflicts with a municipal bylaw, then the building code requirement takes precedence," Bryan Purcell, vice-president of policy and programs at The Atmospheric Fund (TAF), told The Energy Mix in May. Organizations like TAF warned that Bill 17 risked undermining that authority by clarifying the grey area. With the new legislation, the Building Code Act now states that "certain sections of the Municipal Act, 2001 and the City of Toronto Act, 2006 do not authorize a municipality to pass by-laws respecting the construction or demolition of buildings." View our latest digests Alexandra Sanita, a spokesperson for Ontario's municipal affairs and housing minister Rob Flack, said in a statement to The Narwhal that the legislation "standardizes construction requirements and provides consistency, clarifying that no municipality has the authority to enforce a by-law that supersedes the Ontario Building Code." "Through these changes, the City of Toronto's Tier 1 of the Green Building Standard would not be allowed as they mandate requirements for new development planning applications that go beyond the Ontario building code." Tier 1 is a list of mandatory green building requirements. Other tiers, which set incentives but are not mandatory, would still be allowed. But Toronto city staff later released an assessment of the Act's impacts. They determined that "there is no impact to the City's ability to continue to apply the TGS to new development." When asked how the Act's impacts on other legislation, like the Municipal Act, might affect the TGS, the City told The Energy Mix it "cannot provide further comment on the topic at this time" because of legal action against the TGS filed last year. Comments submitted to the legislature by the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) state that the new amendment does not change the legislative powers of the province to set construction standards, and that municipalities can pass by-laws in pursuit of economic, social, and environmental, including for climate change. "Municipal action in pursuit of those listed goals, as long as they do not require specific construction standards, will not conflict or overlap with provincial authority," says CELA. However, CELA criticizes other parts of the Act that limit cities' access to information about new buildings.
Toronto Star
23-06-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
With Ford's government in one corner and city officials in another, will Toronto's green homebuilding measures survive?
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.'
23-06-2025
- Business
Ontario needs to build more than 2 million homes in the next decade: internal docs
Ontario's target of building 1.5 million homes by 2031 may not be enough to meet demand, civil servants have told the province's new municipal affairs minister, saying that 2.1 million homes could instead be needed to improve affordability. The estimates come in briefing materials provided to Minister Rob Flack, as he took on the new portfolio in March. The document, obtained by CBC News through a freedom of information request, suggests the range of new homes Ontario needs could be as much as 600,000 higher than the current target set by the Progressive Conservative government. It is estimated that between 1.5 million to 2.1 million new homes will need to be built in Ontario over roughly the next decade, based on assessments of the current housing supply shortfall and/or projected population growth, the public servants wrote. The government set its 1.5 million home target in 2022 after its housing task force recommended (new window) the goal. The civil servants say they drew the high end estimates from a 2023 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation look at the housing demand (new window) and supply gap, which they say takes into account what it would require to bring the market to 2003 levels of affordability. The briefing document also charts an approximately 1.2 million person surge in the province's population since 2021, which has contributed to housing needs. During that same period, it notes home starts have been on a steady decline, not hitting the yearly 100,000 required to meet the government's target. Plans for new supply have been challenged by high land and material costs, government fees and charges, shortages of skilled trades labour, labour disputes, supply chain issues and a backlog in housing-enabling municipal infrastructure, the civil servants wrote. WATCH | Government tables new bill aimed at speeding up housing construction: Début du widget Widget. Passer le widget ? Fin du widget Widget. Retourner au début du widget ? Ontario government tables new bill aimed at solving housing crisis Ontario's housing minister has announced a plan aimed at solving the housing crisis. The new legislation, which would speed up new home construction while lowering costs for developers, was tabled on Monday. A spokesperson for the minister did not directly answer questions about the higher housing demand range provided by the civil servants. Instead, Alexandra Sanita said in a statement that the government is spending $2.3 million over four years to help municipalities build the infrastructure they need for new homes. Earlier this month, the province passed its latest measures to accelerate home construction, Bill 17. The law allows builders to defer development charges until completion of a project and reduces the number of municipal studies required for new housing. During the news event to announce the bill, Flack didn't mention the 1.5 million home goal until he was asked about it by CBC News. It's a goal, but frankly I'm more focused, and our team is focused more, on the next 12 to 24 months, because if it stays the way it is now, we'll never get there, he responded. But is it forgotten? No way. Opposition calls for analysis of government housing plans Last week, Ontario's Financial Accountability Office released an economic update which highlighted the continued drop in housing construction. It found that 12,700 units were started in Ontario during the first three months of the year, a 20 per cent drop from the 15,900 units started in the first quarter of 2024. NDP housing critic Catherine McKenney has called on the watchdog to dig into the government's housing plan. We really need to hear from this government, said McKenney. Is housing still a priority? Ontario needs to hit the high end of the housing range provided by the civil service and do that by getting back in the business of building deeply affordable, non-profit, co-op and supportive housing, Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said. It is increasingly being confirmed that the Ford government has abandoned building homes people can afford, he said. Housing targets 'in no danger' of being reached, experts say Richard Lyall, president of Residential Construction Council of Ontario, said he would support an increased target to 2.1 million homes, but at the current rate, the province won't even come close to hitting its original goal because its plan hasn't been effective. All governments need to lower fees for builders, he said. Whether it's the federal target, provincial target, City of Toronto target, they're in no danger of being hit, he said. And part of that is because when you set a target like that you have to break it down and work it backwards.' All levels of government should focus on building more modular homes, cutting municipal development charges, making cities whole for lost revenue, and freeing up public lands for housing at a low cost or for free, said Karen Chapple, director of the University of Toronto's School of Cities. But Chapple said the province needs to be realistic about its housing targets. People just kind of laugh now at that 1.5 million target, she said. York University professor of environmental and urban change Mark Winfield is skeptical of the government's 1.5 million home housing target (new window) because it doesn't break down types of housing required in the province. With cuts to federal immigration levels, declining home sales and a glut of unsold condos on the market, it's time for the government to rethink its strategy, he said. WATCH | Understanding the condo market: Début du widget Widget. Passer le widget ? Fin du widget Widget. Retourner au début du widget ? Why the condo market is plummeting during a housing crisis The condo market in two of Canada's big cities has taken a major downturn. CBC's Nisha Patel breaks down three reasons why condos aren't selling in the middle of a housing crisis. I find it a little hard to compute how you could possibly come up with those kinds of numbers, and indeed, how you could possibly build that many housing units if you wanted to, Winfield said. While home sales and interest rates have dropped and increased affordability for buyers, this might be temporary, said Jason Mercer, chief information officer for the Toronto and Region Real Estate Board. At some point down the road, we're going to see the demand for housing pick up, Mercer said. If we don't have enough supply in the pipeline because we took our foot off the gas from a policy perspective … we're just going to get into this vicious circle where we go from having a lot of inventory to having none at all and these volatile price swings. Shawn Jeffords (new window) · CBC News
Toronto Star
23-06-2025
- Business
- 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.'
