Province cancels Toronto’s pioneering green roof bylaw with no notice
An order in council ended Toronto’s green roof requirement, wiping out a program that covered 1,200 roofs and managed millions of litres of rainwater. The move came with no consultation.
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By Torontoer Staff
The provincial government recently used an order in council to terminate Toronto’s green roof bylaw, a policy the city introduced in 2009 as the first of its kind in North America. The change took effect with no advance notice to the city and no opportunity for municipal debate.
Toronto’s program produced about 1,200 green roofs, totalling more than a million square feet, and the city estimates those roofs absorb roughly 550 million litres of rainwater a year. Developers generally reported only marginal construction cost increases and measurable energy savings, and some chose to install green roofs even when they were not required.
What the bylaw achieved
The bylaw targeted large commercial buildings and aimed to reduce stormwater runoff, lower building energy use, and expand urban vegetation coverage. Over more than a decade the policy became part of Toronto’s climate and resilience planning. For many developers the additional upfront cost was offset by lower heating and cooling bills, and by the growing market visibility of green building features.
How the province ended the program
The program was ended by an order in council approved by the premier and cabinet. City officials say there was no formal notice and no chance for the city to discuss the change with the province before it was implemented. The sudden move eliminated a long-running municipal tool aimed at managing stormwater and reducing emissions in the built environment.
A wider pattern at Queen’s Park
The cancellation sits alongside other provincial actions that affect Toronto’s climate, mobility and housing policies. City council has asked the province to phase out the Portlands gas-fired electricity plant, the city’s top source of local air-polluting emissions and greenhouse gases. The province has refused, saying it will wait until a planned nuclear expansion in Port Hope is finished in 2035. The province’s fall economic statement also removed targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Other recent provincial moves included eliminating speed cameras and introducing legislation aimed at bike lanes and municipal street design. The province moved those measures without public hearings, drawing criticism from municipal leaders and safety advocates.
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
Bill 60 and the limits on local control
Schedule 5 of Bill 60 prevents municipalities from creating bicycle lanes when doing so would reduce the number of marked motor vehicle lanes on a roadway. The provision is not limited to Toronto. Advocates say it will make it harder for cities across Ontario to add protected cycling infrastructure on many two-lane roads.
Tenant protections, shortened timelines
Bill 60 is an omnibus bill that also changes rules affecting tenants. The legislation reduces the time available to appeal certain decisions to 15 days, removes the requirement for landlords to provide one month’s rent as compensation for evictions labelled as 'personal use,' halves several eviction notice periods and limits tenants’ ability to challenge so-called voluntary evictions when pressure or misinformation may have been involved.
- Challenges to voluntary evictions are restricted
- Appeal windows cut to 15 days in some cases
- Compensation for personal-use evictions eliminated
- Eviction notice periods are reduced
- More enforcement officers can be hired to carry out evictions
With roughly half of Toronto residents renting, those changes carry significant implications for housing stability across the city. Toronto’s executive committee asked the province to amend the bill, but the legislature passed it without public hearings.
What this means for Toronto
The removal of the green roof bylaw reduces one municipal tool for managing stormwater and cutting building energy use. Coupled with restrictions on local street design and changes to tenant protections, the recent provincial actions have narrowed the policy options available to the city on climate adaptation, active transportation and housing security.
Municipal leaders and advocacy groups have signalled their opposition and are likely to pursue both public and legal avenues to respond. For now, developers and building owners in Toronto must abide by the provincial direction, and the city will need to reassess its approach to achieving climate and infrastructure goals without the green roof requirement.
Toronto introduced its green roof bylaw as a municipal response to stormwater and climate risks. The province’s recent moves have removed that local lever, and they highlight a broader shift in how policy decisions that affect cities are being made at Queen’s Park.
green roofsDoug FordenvironmentTorontoBill 60housing
