Bill 98: Ford Moves to Strip Municipal Green Building Standards

Climate lock-in. Buildings constructed to lower standards today will operate for 50–100 years. Every apartment built without proper insulation, heat pump infrastructure, or passive cooling is a long-term liability as climate extremes intensify. Toronto's urban heat island effect is already measurable; tree canopy requirements are a frontline defence. Bill 98 turns those requirements into suggestions, at the request of an industry lobby that was simultaneously fighting them in court.

Energy independence. The Atmospheric Fund argues Bill 98 will increase Ontario's dependence on imported US natural gas — directly undermining energy independence at a moment when continental energy security has become a live political issue. Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner was direct: the Ford government is "putting the profits of oil and gas giants like Enbridge ahead of affordability for everyday people."

The cost shift onto homebuyers. The government frames Bill 98 as reducing upfront housing costs. The reverse is true over any meaningful time horizon. Buyers locked into gas-heated, poorly insulated units face higher utility bills for the life of the building. The retrofit reckoning eventually arrives — and when it does, it falls on residents, not developers. Former Toronto Mayor David Miller, who introduced the Toronto Green Standard, put it plainly: "Cutting corners on new construction locks in higher energy bills, greater risks from heat waves and flooding and expensive retrofits down the road — costs that will ultimately be borne by residents."

Democratic legitimacy. Halton Hills, Hamilton, Mississauga, Markham, Vaughan, Richmond Hill — these communities passed green standards through their own democratic processes, responding to their residents' priorities. Bill 98 overrides those local decisions from Queen's Park, at the request of an industry lobby group that was simultaneously fighting the same standards in court. This is a pattern: from MZOs to the Greenbelt to bike lane removals, the Ford government has repeatedly used provincial power to override local democratic decisions when developers prefer a different outcome.

Municipal paralysis has already begun. Hamilton, Ottawa, Waterloo Region, Guelph, Clarington, and Oshawa all paused their green standard programs in early 2026, before the bill has even passed. The threat alone has been enough to freeze local climate action across much of the province. This chilling effect — six municipalities pausing programs they had been developing for years — is the legislation working as intended, before a single vote is cast.

The retrofit reckoning. Ontario will eventually need to decarbonize its entire building stock. Every building constructed to minimum code today becomes part of that future burden. Kingston has invested over $800,000 annually in climate leadership programs supporting 250 retrofit projects; Toronto has refunded nearly $120 million in development charges since 2010 to incentivize green building. Those investments in a better baseline are made worthless if future buildings are built to a lower standard. The Canada Green Building Council, whose sector contributes $33 billion to Ontario's GDP, warned that weakening standards risks hollowing out an industry critical to the province's future.

RESCON's legal case against Toronto remains active in Ontario Superior Court. If Bill 98 passes, it may effectively deliver RESCON's legal victory by statute — establishing in law what the court was asked to determine — before a judge rules. This sets a troubling precedent: industry groups can launch litigation against municipalities, then have a sympathetic government legislate away the dispute before it reaches judgment. The court case becomes moot, the municipality loses, and no judicial principle is established.

Bill 98 is part of a pattern. MZOs overriding local planning, the Greenbelt scandal, Bill 212 removing bike lanes, conservation authority mergers eliminating local environmental oversight — the consistent thread is provincial capture of powers that once belonged to communities. Green building standards were one of the last areas where Ontario cities retained meaningful authority over the built environment their residents inhabit. Bill 98 is the fourth attempt to take that authority away.