The same week Prime Minister Mark Carney announced billions for an infrastructure program designed to reduce Ontario housing costs, Premier Doug Ford proposed new laws to drive them even lower at the expense of our climate. 

Ford’s proposed new legislation will eliminate the requirement for cities to set greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution reduction goals and could even remove existing tools they have to promote green building. The province argues the changes are necessary to lower housing development costs.

The Ontario government of course failed to mention that buildings account for about a third of the province's planet-heating GHG emissions. So, slowing the pace of climate-friendly steps like requiring electric vehicle chargers in new buildings and eliminating gas heating would have a significant negative impact. Coming at a time of stagnating housing costs and on the heels of a generous $4.4 billion federal gift that will purportedly save up to $200,000 in taxes and fees on the cost of a new home, the provincial government’s justification for chipping away at municipal climate efforts seems awfully thin.

Climate NGO Stand.earth was quick to posit a theory about why Ford wants to keep Ontario buildings in the “stone ages.” 

“Maybe because he wants to let his developer buddies cut corners to save a few bucks — allowing them to ditch modern tech like electric heat pumps in favour of polluting gas furnaces and boilers.”

It’s not far-fetched. Ford’s cozy connections with Ontario’s voracious housing developers are well documented, as is his obeisance to Ontario’s gas industry. He has consistently exhibited a disregard for climate and environmental legislation, working to weaken both since he was first elected in 2018. His first move as premier was to roll back the buildout of electric vehicle charging stations and it’s gone downhill from there. Having been sued, successfully, for not meeting climate goals, he simply undid the requirement to have any — and now he’s doing the same to cities.

But until recently, Ontario’s cities like others across Canada were making progress on pollution reduction. Many of Canada’s greatest climate gains happen at the civic level.

Montreal, and a host of other Canadian cities including Vancouver have banned gas heating in all new homes and buildings in favour of heat pumps or some other form of clean energy.

The town of Raymond, Alta., in a province not generally lauded for its climate initiatives, went all in on solar and became the first net-zero municipality, meaning it now powers all its municipal buildings with clean energy. It even sells its excess electricity back to the power grid. And on the East Coast, Halifax is gradually shifting its transit fleet to electric buses.

Out west, New Westminster, BC last week became a trailblazer with its climate change mitigation efforts, becoming the first Canadian city to pass a maximum temperature bylaw for rental apartments. The new law will require landlords to maintain safe temperatures of 26C in at least one room of every apartment.

Coun. Nadine Nakagawa, who co-sponsored the motion, said the bylaw will save lives, noting 33 residents died during BC’s 2021 heat dome. Most lived in rental apartments.

For her, the bill was deeply personal. “During heat dome I lived in a bachelor unit and my only window was a sliding glass door, and an air conditioner just wouldn’t have worked in that setting,” she said at the May 30 council meeting.

“So really, I would have needed the building owners to help me cool my unit. It was deathly hot.”

Toronto was on the right track as well, at least until Ford started to meddle. It was the first city in North America to pass a green roof bylaw in 2009, making green roofs mandatory on all large new commercial, institutional and residential developments. Green roofs help lower temperatures during summer, divert rainwater and reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions. The province repealed the bylaw last fall, saying the requirement slowed development.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is also working to enact a maximum temperature bylaw for rental apartments by 2027 to protect tenants from increasingly hot summers caused primarily by humans burning fossil fuels. Will Ford’s proposed bill jeopardize that much-needed step as well? It’s not clear yet as details of the bills have yet to be released.

It’s bad enough that the Ontario government has watered down its own climate goals. But it’s unconscionable to prevent motivated cities from moving in the right direction. I don’t know if Carney was aware of Ford’s latest climate policy rollback scheme before he promised to partner on infrastructure. It sure would have been nice if he could have stopped it in its tracks.

Ford’s dirty new law hasn’t been passed yet. Perhaps a quiet word from the PM could change his mind. Given Ford’s abysmal record in this area, there’s certainly no chance of him backtracking without that kind of high-level pressure.

© National Observer