OAA says new Ontario bill may cause municipal green building standards to become obsolete

Following a very expedited legislative process, the Ontario government passed Bill 17, Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025, on June 3, 2025.

The Bill aims to accelerate development and housing construction in Ontario by streamlining planning processes, reducing development charges, and allowing for additional flexibility in land use planning. It is the third bill in a series designed to address housing affordability and economic growth.

Key goals and provisions of the Bill include accelerating development approvals, reducing development charges, simplifying land use planning, expanding municipal powers, streamlining transit-oriented communities, permitting schools on residential lands, updating building standards, standardizing development charges, and removing procedural requirements.

Bill 17 amends other acts with respect to infrastructure, housing, and transit. These include the Building Code Act, 1992, Building Transit Faster Act, 2020, City of Toronto Act, 2006, Development Charges Act, 1997, Metrolinx Act, 2006, Ministry of Infrastructure Act, 2011, Planning Act, and Transit-Oriented Communities Act, 2020.

Public consultation was very limited on this Bill due to the speed at which it was passed. As a result, the new Ontario Bill is being criticized, along with Bill 5, which weakens environmental protections and eliminates green building bylaws.

In its role to regulate the practice of architecture to protect the public interest, the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) has been monitoring the development of Bill 17 since its introduction on May 12, 2025. The Association has identified some changes and has shared concerns that have been voiced by members of the profession, others in the design/construction community, and the public.

Among the many changes that the legislation brings about, the OAA is particularly interested in those related to complete application rules as well as the proposed updates to the Building Code Act.

Through amendments to the Planning Act, Bill 17 mandates changes to complete application rules in order to limit what can be required as part of a complete application. The OAA says that the proposed regulation limits the scope of permitted studies. In removing the “provide any other information or material that the council considers it may need” from Section 34 (10.2) of the Act, the OAA says it enables the exclusion of sun/shadow, wind, urban design, and lighting reports.

While the OAA supports the government’s move to streamline the development approval process, the Association encourages the Province to seek input from the design community, including the architecture and engineering professions, regarding which reports should be included in a truly “complete application.”

Bill 17 also updates the Building Code Act to prevent municipalities from passing bylaws respecting the construction or demolition of buildings. The OAA notes this seems to suggest that the Bill will cause municipal green building standards to become obsolete, and mandates that uniform building standards (i.e. Ontario’s Building Code [OBC]) be applied province-wide.

“Ontario is uniquely positioned to use this time of great change to introduce an energy step code into the OBC. However, in the meantime, energy efficiency standards currently in place—such as the Toronto and Whitby Green Standards—should not be lost,” reads the OAA’s website.

“Objective, tiered performance metrics help everyone understand energy consumption in buildings, and position Ontario to achieve its 2030 targets. Municipal green standards are an important step in this—OAA members call the Toronto Green Standard one of the most effective tools available to pitch climate considerations to their clients. In the long term, however, the OAA recognizes that enshrinement of these standards in the OBC will ensure application and acceptance of the standards consistently across Ontario.”

Various correspondence between the OAA and the Province can be searched through the Government Relations (GR) Portal on the OAA website.

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