Nov. 30, 2015 News Release from HVAC expert Dara Bowser Misplaced Priorities: Ontario Government Imposing New Housing Energy Regulations but Ontario Building Code Violations Allowed to Continue Brantford, ONTARIO (November 30th, 2015) – The Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has announced that it will be implementing significant increases in the mandatory minimum energy standards for all newly built homes in 2017, after having implemented a significant increase in those standards in 2013.(1) Newly built homes represent a significant economic engine of the Ontario economy but newly built homes are already very efficient compared to resale homes, and homes to be built in the future are a very small fraction of Ontario’s total housing stock. In 2012, in sync with the Federal Government’s termination of its home retrofit program, Ontario also withdrew its matching rebates to homeowners. This effectively killed this program in Ontario. The same types of programs have survived in other provinces due to better provincial support.(2) According CTV News(3), the Ontario Government is considering mandatory home energy rating of all homes (new & old) at the time of sale. The legislation for this measure was passed in 2009 under the Conservatives, but was never implemented by subsequent Liberal Governments. Considerable adjustment in the re-sale home segment will be required, as well as new regulations, rules and over-sight mechanisms, etc. On May 30, 2015, we submitted a request to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Minister Ted McMeekin, to initiate an Inquiry into recurring and ongoing instances of the failure to enforce the Ontario Building Code.(4) Minister McMeekin replied on July 31, 2015 and said that the submission was helpful, but declined to initiate the Inquiry, or to do anything else. The enforcement failures cited in our call for an Inquiry are currently the subject of several lawsuits (5,6) and have resulted in new home purchasers being “stuck” with homes that the Tarion Warranty Corp. has refused to repair, and that they can’t keep warm in the winter. Many other homeowners have repaired the defects out of their own pockets in order to be comfortable or to be able to re-sell their homes. The ongoing failures to enforce the Ontario Building Code involve Municipalities, Tarion, Professional Accreditation and Certification Agencies, Publishers of Design Guidelines, and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing itself. All of these bodies are aware of the failures, yet none have taken any action to stop their ongoing occurrence. The Government of Ontario is not willing to ensure that its own Building Code is properly enforced, but is willing to impose new, complex energy regulations on new and existing homeowners. Considering the needs of Ontario’s consumers, surely having a home built properly and in compliance with the Ontario Building Code should come before new and ever increasing energy standards. Contact : Dara Bowser, Phone / (519) 756-9116, E-mail / dara@bowsertech.com (1) http://ohba.ca/magazines/29/articles/97 (2) http://www.efficiencyns.ca/energy-solutions/home-energy-assessment/ (3) http://tinyurl.com/zcvnrd9 (4) Call for Inquiry into Failure to Enforce the Ontario Building Code with Respect to SDHV- HVAC Systems, May 30, 2015, Dara Bowser (5) Ontario Court of Justice CV12449387 (6) Press Release August 31st, 2015, HVAC Installer Sues Manufacturer - 30 -