Provincial

Electricity price embedding underway for 2023-24

Electricity price embedding cycle begins anew

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.
Raw performance metrics unflattering to Canada

Raw performance metrics unflattering to Canada

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.
Quebec budget boosts climate action spending

Quebec budget boosts climate action spending

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.
Ontario mulls its site redevelopment potential

Ontario mulls its site redevelopment potential

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.
subpar waste diversion results trail Ontario target

Subpar waste diversion trails Ontario target

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 has been postponed for a third time

Overdue property reassessment raises alarm

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.
Toronto strip plazas considered for tax discount

COVID impacts linger for commercial ratepayers

Assessed values in Ottawa and Toronto will be at least seven years out of date and Winnipeg’s will be nearly five years behind before new assessment cycles begin in those cities.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

Environmental mishaps herald personal liability

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 scrutinized for asset condition

Civic building inventory lags on capital repair

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.
Residential energy use re-emerges in Ontario's CDM plans

Heat is on for electricity demand projections

Electricity demand projections through the vaccination rollout period should take two contradictory factors into account, energy management specialists affirm.
Commercial customer's grapple with Ontario's electricity cost allocation

Parsing Ontario’s electricity cost allocation

After a year of operational upheaval and more modifications to electricity pricing policies, BOMA Toronto’s annual workshop to address the complexities of the global adjustment had a lot of ground to cover.
Light industrial set for a heavy property tax hit

Light industrial set for heavy property tax hit

Economic fallout from COVID-19 is shifting more of the tax burden to this flourishing group of assets via the mill rate, while also driving up the tax rate, for a double-whammy of consequences in jurisdictions that update valuations annually.
New flat rates for Ontario elevators licenses

New fee model for Ontario elevator licenses

The flat license rate will penalize mid-rise and high-rise owners with extra costs if an elevator passes the periodic inspection and does not require a follow-up. It will be a bargain if just one follow-up inspection is required.
Ontario endorses competitive mechanisms to trim the price-point of energy efficiency spending

Ontario to stretch energy efficiency spending

A new slate of conservation and demand management (CDM) programs allocates $456 million for commercial, institutional and industrial consumers over the four-year period from 2021-24.
More electricity price adjustments for Ontario

More electricity price adjustments for Ontario

For now, residential and small business customers enrolled for either time-of-use (TOU) rates or tiered pricing under the provincial regulated price plan will be charged the off-peak TOU rate of 8.5 cents per kilowatt-hour for all electricity consumption.
foreign buyers

Vacant dwellings yield revenue gains for B.C.

Resident British Columbians own about 30 per cent of the properties subject to the speculation and vacancy tax, but account for just 6.6 per cent of collected revenue.
Fire code updates demand ongoing vigilance

Fire code updates demand steady upkeep

Although they increasingly rely on professional service providers to keep up with the complexities of compliance, owners/managers ultimately carry the responsibility for life safety and bear the brunt of enforcement.