The Government of Ontario is consulting on how to reduce regulatory burdens associated with the Ontario Building Code (OBC). This is an opportune moment for Ontario to harmonize the OBC with the latest edition of the national model codes, fulfilling federal-provincial agreements.
Beyond just modernizing and updating the OBC, harmonizing with the national model codes is an opportunity to strengthen interprovincial trade, reduce red tape, support modern methods of construction, and accelerate delivery of affordable, sustainable housing.
How building code harmonization will strengthen trade within Canada
In the wake of the unrelenting trade war launched by the Trump administration, we’ve heard a lot about the importance of unlocking free trade within Canada. Interprovincial trade barriers cost the Canadian economy about $200 billion annually in lost economic output, roughly the same as the estimated economic impacts of Trump’s tariffs.
Chief among these barriers is the patchwork of provincial building codes across Canada. All that variation is a major headache for companies in the broader construction sector that want to scale and service the entire Canadian market. The result is a fragmented market and higher costs for industry and consumers – costs that Canada can no longer afford.
Canada’s National Model Codes were developed to help solve that problem. Every five years, the national model codes are updated with a harmonized set of building construction requirements that ensure safety and efficiency while reducing interprovincial trade barriers. National Model Code adoption by provinces and territories is voluntary, with some provinces fully on board and others – like Ontario – picking and choosing requirements from the national codes and combining them with their own unique requirements.
Reducing red tape to accelerate housing
The current OBC is ostensibly based on the 2020 national model codes, but includes 800 pages of amendments. The combined Ontario amendments and supplementary standards are longer than the national building code itself. Users need to understand and cross reference both, adding costly delays.
Market fragmentation deters investment in technology, automation and firm growth, which is part of why labour productivity in residential construction fell 37% between 2001 and 2023. Harmonization among provinces would open up opportunities for the federal government to address the decline and embrace modern methods of construction, including offsite manufacturing of walls, floors, or even entire rooms or homes. It’s difficult for innovators to raise the investments needed to scale these new approaches when products must be redesigned to meet a panoply of different code standards across the country. Establishing a unified Canadian market for construction materials and services is more important than ever as Canada seeks to navigate its way out of an enduring housing affordability and supply crisis.
Aligning codes to save on energy costs
Code harmonization is also a chance to move Ontario forward on energy efficient design standards, which are currently a decade out-of-date. There are multiple performance tiers for Ontario to choose from, and streamlined compliance options that can accelerate the design process. Harmonizing with the second tier of the National Energy Code for Buildings, for example, would improve energy efficiency, leading to lower energy costs for tenants and owners. Ontario could also allow cities to adopt higher performance tiers locally, providing a practical and consistent alternative to the local green standards that the Ontario government is aiming to eliminate.
The Ontario government has long championed reducing regulatory red tape and dismantling interprovincial trade barriers. The OBC consultation is a low-cost opportunity to do that and more. This is a moment of choice for Ontario: do we harmonize with the national building codes or continue with the mix-and-match approach that has resulted in an increasingly unwieldy OBC?
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