CaGBC Engages with Federal Leaders in Ottawa

On October 25th, HRAI VP of Government and Stakeholder Relations Martin Luymes joined members and leaders of the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) to engage with federal leaders from all parties in discussions about how government can partner with the private sector to improve the energy and carbon performance of buildings.

The event drew the support of representatives from the government including Members of Parliament Julie Dabrusin (Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister of Natural Resources), Gérard Deltell, (PC Shadow Minister for Environment and Climate Change), Mario Simard (Bloc Quebecois), Charlie Angus (NDP) and Mike Morrice (Green Party).

Earlier this month, like HRAI, CaGBC made a submission to the federal Committee on Finance in advance of budget planning.  It is expected that Budget 2023 will set the pace for decarbonizing of the built environment through zero-carbon buildings and retrofits. To accelerate that pace, CAGBC made the following recommendations:

  1. To supercharge Canada’s retrofit economy, the government should require zero-carbon transition plans and support their development as part of any deep carbon retrofit program for all building types. Transition planning will ensure the effective timing and sequencing of carbon reduction measures. Recommended investment of $3 million over three years to Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).
  2. To stimulate Canada’s supply chain of low-carbon construction materials, the government should create a grant program to build additional capacity for life cycle assessments and environmental product declarations (EPD) for products manufactured by small- and medium-sized Canadian companies. Recommended investment of $25 million over three years to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.
  3. To set the foundational blocks for decarbonizing Canada’s large buildings, the government should fund a Building Data Strategy and define the structure that will collect and disclose data, and enable the labelling of industrial, commercial, and institutional (ICI) sector buildings. Recommended investment of $35 million over three years to NRCan.

Read the full CaGBC submission here.

For more information, contact Martin Luymes at 1-800-267-2231 ext. 235 or email mluymes@hrai.ca.

Back to Newsletters