A new oversight regime for Ontario’s elevators and escalators will come into force on March 1, bringing shorter timelines for rectifying an extensive list of designated high-risk deficiencies.

The COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain disruptions are frequently cited, but not the only reasons for uneven uptake of Ontario’s energy retrofit and performance incentives over the past two years.

Newly released findings from British Columbia’s public consultation on cannabis lounges unsurprisingly confirm that recreational cannabis users are most likely to find the concept appealing.

The Ontario government has pledged $342 million in additional energy efficiency spending to be rolled out between the spring of 2023 and the end of 2024.

Beginning in 2023, municipalities will have flexibility to pull more revenue from their non-residential tax base, potentially cancelling out a phased 15 per cent reduction in the provincial property tax rate that was introduced this year.

Both the NDP and Green parties float concepts for standardized lease agreements and rent control guidelines in their recently released platforms for the June 2 Ontario election..

The Ontario Liberals and NDP are making similar pledges to inject more funding into the energy conservation programs that have been downscaled during the current provincial government’s tenure.

Ontario’s large commercial customers will have somewhat more straightforward parameters for carving out their share of the global adjustment as they prepare for expected summer peak demand.

Canada ranks 7th for its policy measures and second-last in performance outcomes in an analysis of energy efficiency efforts in the world's 25 highest energy-consuming countries.

The budget also includes $232.5 million over five years to help universities and colleges rent additional space and $43 million to underwrite an extra 1,600 subsidized units in private rental housing.

A centralized agency will be tasked with identifying provincially owned sites with redevelopment potential, placing a priority on new uses that align with infrastructure initiatives.

About 85 per cent of waste from Ontario's businesses, public institutions, residential buildings with six or more units and construction/demolition sites ends up in landfill, including a vast amount of recyclable material.

Ontario’s overdue property reassessment is on hold until at least 2024, leaving many commercial ratepayers with a further wait to realize tax reductions from pandemic-related value erosion.

Assessed values in Ottawa and Toronto will be at least seven years out of date and Winnipeg’s will be nearly five years behind before new assessment cycles begin in those cities.

Personal liability is a mounting possibility for directors, officers and supervisors of organizations that run afoul of environmental regulators or are on the losing side of civil litigation.

Ontario’s civic building inventory has fallen the farthest behind on capital repair among seven categories of municipal infrastructure assets scrutinized in a newly released report from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario.

Electricity demand projections through the vaccination rollout period should take two contradictory factors into account, energy management specialists affirm.