Bill 98 is the latest…

Bill 98 is the latest manifestation of this provincial government’s determination to repeatedly weaken environmental protections and climate change adaptation, and that’s deeply troubling.

It’s easy for public servants and politicians to use dry, simplistic bureaucratic language to mask what really is being proposed, and this bill is no exception. Streamlining, simplifying, standardizing, expediting, these terms all sound lofty and desirable, but measures required to achieve them are anything but! And these measures are definitely not described in your sterilized notice for consultation. You’re very good at hiding the truth.

Take the section “Site Plan: Prohibit Mandatory Municipal Enhanced Development Standards and Green Building Standards” as an example. Under the guise of those lofty terms, what is proposed here is devastating for climate change mitigation by nipping in the bud all municipalities’ efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions emanating from the housing construction sector. It allows more pollution from yet more fossil fuel heating and cooling in homes instead of incentivizing clean technologies, at a time in our history when governments should be seeking modernization in home building practices and materials, not perpetuating the status quo. By not allowing the adoption of green building standards in the homebuilding industry, Ontario is going against the trend and this will set us back tremendously with regards to climate resiliency. Why none of that is even touched upon in the “Impact on the Environment” section of the proposal is beyond comprehension. Removing green building standards inevitably has major impacts on the environment!

Bill 98 is extremely short-sighted and its focus on speeding up home building to the detriment of progress on the energy transition front is extremely flawed. Real political leadership would be doing exactly the opposite, not pandering to the wishes of a construction industry driven by resistance to change.