Regulations

2020 scorecard provides impetus for interprovincial energy efficiency rivalry

Scorecard stokes energy efficiency rivalry

Efficiency Canada’s second annual provincial scorecard takes a detailed look at commitment, outcomes and potential related to 42 energy efficiency indicators, and charts progress, or backsliding, against last year’s results.
CERS draft legislation outlines new commercial rent relief program

CERS draft legislation awaits adoption

CERS will deliver direct rent support to qualifying tenants without the need to work though their landlords. As a direct subsidy, unlike CECRA, no loan agreement is required.
condo security 

Historic property tax disparity dismantled

As announced in the provincial budget, the Ontario government plans to equalize the business education tax (BET) rate at 0.88 per cent for 2021, equating to a $450-million tax cut province-wide.
property tax ratios lopsided against commercial ratepayers

Property tax ratios epitomize commercial burden

The commercial property tax rate is at least double the residential rate in eight of the 11 surveyed cities, with commercial ratepayers in Montreal, Toronto and Quebec City shouldering the most disproportionate shares.
licence

Ontario unveils more regulatory adjustments

A recycled title adorns the Ontario government's latest initiative to be framed as red tape reduction. Bill 213, the Better for People, Smarter for Business Act, 2020, is an omnibus effort to amend more than two dozen statutes.
energy retrofits

Feds to invest $2 billion in energy retrofits

A promised $2 billion investment in large-scale building retrofits will be central to the Canadian government’s job creation ambitions. Energy efficiency champions have plenty of ideas of how and where the funds could be best leveraged.
summer peak demand unexpected in electricity system models

COVID-19 confounds electricity system models

After scrambling to recalibrate their models in the early days of COVID-19-related shutdowns, analysts with Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator faced more uncharted territory when the hot weather arrived.
Ontario capital markets set for modernization effort

Ontario capital markets set for rule revamp

Proposals address a range of issues that are likely to be of interest to listed real estate entities and their investors, as well as start-up ventures and other publicly traded service providers to the industry.
September CECRA coverage

Stop-gap September CECRA coverage offered

Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance will be offered for a sixth month. The announcement comes eight days after the portal for new applications for the relief program appeared to be closed.
CECRA now closed to new applications for commercial rent relief

CECRA now closed to new applicants

With the August 31 deadline for first-time applications for Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) now passed, the three-month program that evolved into five months of relief is closed to new recipients.
biomass power

WTO okay with provinces buying biomass power

The World Trade Organization agreed with Canada that the U.S. conflated wholesale and retail electricity rates to arrive at its supposition that B.C. and Quebec hydro utilities overpaid for biomass power.
Few funds with Quebec's student housing promise

Pandemic-related litigation brewing in Quebec

Commercial real estate specialists are noting a recent Quebec superior court decision with interest, suggesting it could become a beacon for other tenants seeking rent relief.
Input sought on quantifying life cycle GHGs

Ontario consults on next conservation framework

Residential consumption is identified as a primary concern and opportunity for the 2021-24 period, along with a continued emphasis on reducing system-wide peak demand
transparency metrics for real estate investors

COVID-19 expected to drive transparency metrics

Canada once again places in the top tier of “highly transparent” nations in the newly released 2020 edition of the JLL/LaSalle Global Real Estate Transparency Index.
Many hydro accounts for common areas in large multi-residential buildings will no longer qualify for the Ontario Electricity Rebate as of November 2020

Ontario Electricity Rebate applied unevenly

Many hydro accounts specifically tied to the common areas of multi-residential buildings will no longer qualify for the 31.8 per cent rebate beginning in November 2020.
energy management paybacks

Ontario stalls energy management paybacks

A temporary adjustment to Ontario’s electricity pricing scheme eliminates cost-saving opportunities that many operators of large commercial buildings were anticipating this summer.
Public disclosure of energy use and GHG intensity holds little appeal for building owners concerned about uninformed scrutiny

Public disclosure could foil energy reporting

The City of Winnipeg has invited commercial building owners and institutional facility managers to affix their Energy Star Portfolio Manager results on a publicly accessible map.