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.

Climate, cost and capacity pose fuel-switching challenges for building owners looking to curb greenhouse gas emissions in line with Canada’s target for a 40 per cent reduction below 2005 levels by 2030.

Researchers and manufacturers have now done much of the work to prepare for the HFC phase-down, but codes and standards will need to catch up before a new generation of lower-GWP refrigerants can be used.

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.

Newcomers will be confronting Canada’s affordable housing shortage, while also dealing with potential trauma, language barriers and the general culture shock of unfamiliar surroundings.

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.

REALPAC’s newly updated model green lease for Canadian office buildings introduces measures aligned with the broadening demand for ESG reporting and performance outcomes.

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.

A new iteration of property expense relief will be more bountiful for many recipients than recent payouts of the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidiary, but fewer commercial tenants or owner-occupiers will qualify.

Pandemic paperwork is becoming more voluminous for commercial landlords as a growing list of influential tenants ask for proof that building personnel have two valid COVID-19 vaccinations.