Consultation on Reducing Regulatory Burden in Ontario's Building Code

Description of Proposal

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, on behalf of the Building Code Short-Term Advisory Body (“Advisory Body”), is seeking public input as part of a review of Ontario’s Building Code to identify opportunities to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden, improve clarity, support housing construction, and reduce barriers to innovation and interprovincial trade.

Ontario’s Building Code is a large and highly technical regulation that establishes construction requirements for buildings across the province. Stakeholders have identified concerns that some requirements may be unnecessarily complex, difficult to interpret, outdated, duplicative, or inconsistent with requirements in other parts of Canada. 

To support this review, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has established the Advisory Body, an independent panel of Building Code experts. The Advisory Body has been asked to identify opportunities to improve the Building Code while maintaining health, safety, accessibility, and performance outcomes.

Purpose of the Consultation

The Advisory Body is seeking feedback on:

• Provisions that are outdated, duplicative, overly prescriptive, or no longer proportionate to risk.
• Opportunities to simplify, streamline, consolidate, or remove requirements while maintaining or improving health, safety, accessibility, and performance outcomes.
• Consideration of alignment with the National Construction Codes and Ontario’s obligations, only where opportunities for burden reduction through further harmonization arise.
• Practical, feasible, and evidence-based ideas that support efficient construction practices, reduce compliance costs, and improve clarity and usability of the Code

Consultation Paper and Questions

A consultation paper has been prepared to support this review. The paper provides more detailed background on the Building Code Advisory Body, the purpose and scope of the review, the principles guiding the Advisory Body’s work, and the types of issues where input is being sought.

The consultation paper also includes specific questions to help guide responses. Members of the public, municipalities, building officials, designers, builders, manufacturers, industry organizations, accessibility organizations, and other interested parties are encouraged to review the consultation paper before submitting comments through this posting.

Responses do not need to address every question in the consultation paper. Respondents may provide comments on any Building Code issues, opportunities, risks, or practical examples that they believe should be considered as part of this review.

How Feedback Will Be Used

Feedback received through this consultation will help inform the work of the Building Code Advisory Body and may contribute to future recommendations to the Minister regarding potential Building Code changes. Any future regulatory proposals would be subject to separate government decision-making processes and, where required, additional public consultation.

Environmental Implications

The review may consider Ontario Building Code requirements related to environmental performance, including energy efficiency and other environmental objectives. No regulatory changes are being proposed through this consultation. The purpose of this consultation is to gather information and perspectives that may inform future recommendations and policy development, including environmental implications.