TORONTO — The following Ontario legislation and regulation changes of relevance to Ontario’s construction sector came into effect on Jan. 1, 2021. Among them, the government has amended a regulation under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act that will split residential and non-residential building construction into two groups.
Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development
Besides amending a regulation under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act to split residential and non-residential building construction into two groups, the government is removing duplicative training requirements in working-at-heights training. An amendment to a regulation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act will eliminate the need for people who have received fall protection training in Newfoundland and Labrador to repeat their training in Ontario.
Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines
Amendments to the Ontario Energy Board Act replaced two dated Ontario Energy Board objectives with one to promote innovation in the electricity sector.
Amendments to the Ontario Energy Board Act will also give the Ontario Energy Board the authority to grant electricity transmission proponents earlier access to land to conduct preliminary environmental studies prior to applying for Leave to Construct.
Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks
Amendments to regulations under the Environmental Protection Act will reform the way industry and land developers deal with excess soil by:
- changing rules that will reduce costs for managing and transporting excess soil and reduce the amount of clean soil being sent to landfills
- extending the deadline for infrastructure projects that have been delayed due to COVID-19 to ∙ enter into a soil management contract from Jan. 1, 2021 to Jan. 1, 2022. Projects with a soil management contract in place by Jan. 1, 2022 would be exempt from new requirements coming into force on Jan. 1, 2022.
Ministry of Government and Consumer Services
Developers across the province will now be required to provide purchasers of new or pre-construction residential condos with a copy of a new Ontario’s Residential Condominium Buyers’ Guide, along with a copy of the current disclosure statement, when a purchaser buys a residential property or proposed property from the developer or a person acting on behalf of or for the benefit of the developer.
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
An amendment to a regulation under the Housing Services Act will facilitate the transfer of two designated housing projects from one non-profit housing provider (Kirkland Lake Non-Profit Housing Corporation) to another (Timiskaming District Housing Corporation) by exempting the land transfer tax.
An amendment to a regulation under the Housing Services Act will clarify how service managers should calculate housing provider subsidies in light of the residential rent freeze.
Ministry of Transportation
An amendment to a regulation under the Highway Traffic Act will extend the deadline to complete annual inspection requirements for mobile cranes and concrete pumps equipped with conventional truck axles from Jan. 1, 2021 to July 1, 2021.
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