Once again, Ontario has introduced legislation aimed at weakening municipal development standards. Bill 98 is the latest attempt to curtail the authority of municipalities to set requirements for new developments that reflect the needs of the community and deliver social and economic benefits. Framed as a way to make housing construction “more predictable and consistent,” the bill would significantly limit local authority.
At a time when Ontario’s residential construction sector is already under strain, this approach does little to address the real barriers to getting homes built. Among those many barriers include easing planning and zoning rules to allow more midrise and multiplex housing, and removing policies that push development toward sprawl, including boundary expansions, new suburban highways and outdated zoning. Instead, it introduces yet more policy uncertainty while increasing long-term risks for households, communities, and the broader economy. By undermining proven municipal standards and ignoring the clear provincial pathway provided by the tiers introduced in the 2020 model building codes, the province is missing an opportunity to deliver both more housing and better housing.
Municipal development standards protect residents
First introduced by the City of Toronto in 2010, these standards have since been adopted by fifteen municipalities across Ontario. Over time, they have evolved to address energy efficiency, climate resilience, occupant health, and long-term affordability, as well as lesser-known measures that reduce stormwater runoff, reduce construction waste sent to landfills, and protect local ecological systems and habitats.
These standards help ensure new buildings are more comfortable, have healthier indoor environments, and are better prepared for a changing climate. They reduce exposure to moisture problems, overheating during heat waves, and damage from extreme weather events such as floods and ice storms. Importantly, they also shield building owners and occupants from rising utility costs for heating, cooling and electricity by improving energy performance from day one.
Without these safeguards, the people who ultimately use and pay for buildings are left with fewer protections. The result is lower quality construction that may cost less to construct but are far more expensive to operate and maintain over their lifetime. Retrofitting inefficient buildings later is more costly and disruptive than building them right the first time.
Bill 98 could also move more buildings to choose gas heating. That shift increases Ontario’s dependence on imported U.S. natural gas, undermining energy sovereignty and exposing the province to volatile prices and trade risks.
Moreover, these changes would eliminate municipalities’ ability to require that parking associated with new buildings include EV‑ready infrastructure, further hindering electrification, energy security and affordability for families.
Delivering consistency and predictability through regulation
A core justification for Bill 98 is to speed housing development by providing predictability and consistency across the province. However, this latest legislative update continues a trend of uncertainty for builders, developers, manufacturers, and municipalities alike. As the fourth bill in as many years related to community planning and development authorities, each new bill has signaled a potential change in policy direction making it harder for the sector to plan investments, train workers, and scale innovative building solutions. Predictability does not come from lowering standards or removing local tools but rather a clear, stable, and forward-looking regulatory framework.
While municipal development standards sought to provide this framework at the community level, a tool to provide this framework across the province already exists.
Tiered building codes: A missed opportunity
Since 2022, tiered building codes have been available for adoption by provinces and territories. Developed as a national model code and made available for provincial adoption, these codes establish a series of performance levels that progressively raise energy efficiency over time, leading toward highly efficient and resilient buildings.
While tiered codes increase the performance of newly constructed buildings and, in turn, provide healthier, more comfortable, and more affordable new homes, the roadmap that the tiers provide is invaluable. It gives builders, developers, and manufacturers confidence to invest in new products, techniques, and skills. It allows supply chains to evolve in an orderly way and helps avoid costly boom and bust cycles driven by unclear regulatory shifts.
Despite these advantages, Ontario has yet to adopt the tiered code framework and in doing so has denied investors, industry, the construction sector, municipalities, and the workforce the stable, predictable path needed to drive safe, healthy, and affordable housing. Instead, Ontario has relied on minimum codes while simultaneously moving to suppress municipal efforts to achieve these outcomes.
Getting more homes built that people will thrive in
Ontario needs more housing but new homes that are expensive to heat, vulnerable to climate impacts, and costly to retrofit will only deepen affordability challenges over time. Weakening municipal standards while refusing to articulate a provincial vision undermines that confidence. It slows innovation and leaves Ontario less competitive in a global construction market that is rapidly moving toward low carbon, high efficiency buildings.
If the province is serious about accelerating housing delivery, it needs to focus on providing a clear and predictable path to energy efficient, healthy, and affordable homes that reflect the needs of local communities, not strip municipalities of the tools that protect residents and communities.
Building more homes and building better homes are not opposing goals. With clear signals and consistent standards, Ontario can do both.
A consultation on the proposed amendments under Bill 98 has been posted to the Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO), with comments due no later than May 14, 2026.
