New Provincial Government ERO will Prohibit Mandatory Green Building Standards -Submit a Comment by May 14th

The Ontario government has proposed legislative changes through Bill 98 that aim to streamline housing development by standardizing official plans and limiting municipal authority over building standards. For the vegetated roofing industry, the most significant impact stems from the removal of municipal powers to mandate "sustainable design" and "green building standards" that exceed the Ontario Building Code.

The province seeks to ensure that the Ontario Building Code is the sole source of technical requirements for building construction, eliminating the "green pick list" of sustainable options municipalities could mandate.

Historically, vegetated roofing across the province has been driven by local requirements, such as the notable Toronto Green Standard (TGS) and the Toronto Green Roof Bylaw (repealed in November 2025). If Bill 98 passes in its current form, municipalities like Toronto will lose the ability to enforce mandatory vegetated roof installations on new developments. Vegetated roofs will shift from a regulatory requirement to a voluntary amenity.

How to Take Action

The government is seeking public feedback on these changes under the Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act, 2026. Given the industry impacts already felt since the repeal of Toronto’s Green Roof Bylaw, the Ontario Vegetated Roof Industry (OVRI) is calling on its network to submit comments to ERO 026-0300 in opposition to these changes.

The comment period is open until May 14, 2026.

To support this initiative, OVRI has drafted a document with pre-written comments that can be copied and pasted into the ERO. Feel free to add additional information to your comment. You can access the comment document via this link. The comment period ends May 14th, so please submit your comments as soon as possible and share this email across your network.