Province cancels Toronto’s pioneering green roof bylaw, widening municipal-opportunity gap
Ontario revoked Toronto’s 2009 green roof requirement by order in council, ending a program that installed 1,200 roofs and cut stormwater and energy costs.
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By Torontoer Staff
Ontario’s government has ended Toronto’s mandatory green roof bylaw, removing a policy the city introduced in 2009 as the first in North America. The move came via an order in council, without prior public consultation or a formal municipal hearing.
The bylaw required developers of large commercial buildings to include a green roof. Since adoption, Toronto has added roughly 1,200 green roofs, covering more than a million square feet and absorbing an estimated 550 million litres of rainwater annually.
What the green roof bylaw delivered
The policy aimed to reduce stormwater runoff, ease pressure on sewers and provide thermal insulation. Developers reported only marginal increases in construction costs, and buildings with green roofs realised notable energy savings from improved insulation and reduced urban heat exposure.
Beyond direct utility benefits, several developers adopted green roofs voluntarily, installing them on projects where the bylaw did not require them. Municipal planners and environmental groups had pointed to the program as a model for combining climate adaptation with modest construction costs.
How the program was removed
The provincial cabinet approved an order in council that effectively nullified the city’s requirement. The city received no advance notice and had no formal opportunity to present evidence or negotiate changes before the decision took effect.
Broader provincial actions affecting city policy
The green roof change is one of several recent provincial moves that constrain municipal planning and climate initiatives. Toronto council has urged the province to phase out the gas-fired Portlands electricity plant, the city’s largest point source of greenhouse gases, and to replace it with wind and solar resources. The province has declined, citing the planned expansion of a nuclear facility in Port Hope expected in 2035.
The provincial fall economic statement also removed official climate targets. At the same time, Bill 60 includes provisions that limit local control over street design and curb municipal efforts to reallocate road space.
A municipality shall not, by by-law or otherwise, reduce or permit a reduction in the number of marked lanes available for travel by motor vehicles on a highway or a portion of a highway under the municipality’s jurisdiction and control for any of the following purposes: A bicycle lane.
Schedule 5, Bill 60
That language prevents municipalities across Ontario from adding on-road bicycle lanes on two-lane roadways. The provision was introduced without hearings and has been challenged in court, while the legislation on other matters came into force without giving cities extended opportunity to respond.
What Bill 60 changes for tenants and eviction rules
Bill 60 bundles further changes that affect housing security in Toronto, where roughly half the population are renters. City officials requested amendments, but the legislation passed without municipal hearings.
- Tenants lose the ability to challenge some so-called voluntary evictions where pressure or misleading information led to a signed agreement.
- The window to appeal unfair decisions is cut to 15 days.
- The requirement for landlords to provide one month’s rent as compensation for evictions claimed as "personal use" is removed.
- Eviction notice periods and options to request postponements are reduced.
- The province authorises hiring more enforcement officers with powers to remove tenants.
Advocates warn these changes make it easier for landlords to pursue vacancy-based evictions and for renters to lose homes with fewer procedural protections.
What this means for Toronto
Removing the green roof requirement narrows a tool municipalities used to manage stormwater and heat risk. Limits on reallocating road space and tightened tenant rules reduce the city’s policy levers across climate, transportation and housing.
City council and the executive committee have requested changes and pushed for hearings. The province has so far advanced these measures without those municipal consultations, prompting legal challenges and council resolutions asking for reversals or phased approaches.
Municipal officials now face choices about whether to pursue legal options, seek provincial negotiations, or identify alternative incentives to keep green roofs and active-transport projects moving ahead at the local level.
Toronto’s green roof record remains an example of how municipal policy can deliver environmental gains at modest cost. The coming months will determine whether those gains are maintained through other measures, or whether the province’s changes reshape how cities manage climate resilience, streets and housing.
green roofsDoug FordBill 60Torontoclimate policyhousing
