Bill 61 2012

An Act to enact the Ontario's Wood First Act, 2012 and to amend the Building Code Act, 1992 with respect to wood frame buildings

Note: This Act amends the Building Code Act, 1992.  For the legislative history of the Act, see the Table of Consolidated Public Statutes – Detailed Legislative History at www.e-Laws.gov.on.ca.

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Definitions

   1.  In this Act,

"design" has the meaning prescribed by the regulations; ("conception")

"Minister" means the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing or any other member of the Executive Council to whom responsibility for the administration of this Act is assigned or transferred under the Executive Council Act; ("ministre")

"primary building material" has the meaning prescribed by the regulations; ("principal matériau de construction")

"provincially funded building" means a building or an addition to a building that is funded, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly by the Government of Ontario, but not including anything funded by an unconditional grant provided to a municipality. ("bâtiment financé par la province")

Purpose

   2.  The purpose of this Act is to facilitate a culture of wood by requiring the use of wood as the primary building material in the construction of provincially funded buildings, in a manner that is consistent with the Building Code Act, 1992.

Condition of provincial funding, use of wood in buildings

   3.  (1)  It is a condition of any provincial funding for a provincially funded building that the building be constructed using wood as the primary building material if the design of the building is such that the use of wood would be permissible under the Building Code Act, 1992.

Exceptions

   (2)  Subsection (1) is subject to any exceptions prescribed by the regulations.

Reporting

   (3)  The recipient of provincial funding for a building to which subsection (1) applies shall submit a report to the Minister, in accordance with the regulations, that demonstrates that the building will been constructed using wood as the primary building material.

Minister's powers

   4.  For the purposes of promoting the use of wood in the construction of buildings, the Minister may,

  (a)  recommend best practices to encourage the use of wood in the construction of buildings, in a manner that is consistent with the Building Code Act, 1992;

  (b)  advise on the form and content of agreements and other arrangements respecting the design or construction of provincially funded buildings; and

   (c)  carry out any other functions prescribed by the regulations.

Power to make regulations

   5.  The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations,

  (a)  defining "design" and "primary building material" for the purposes of this Act;

  (b)  prescribing exceptions for the purposes of subsection 3 (2);

   (c)  respecting the preparation and submission of the reports required by subsection 3 (3), including the content of the reports and the time, form and manner of reporting;

  (d)  respecting the maintenance of records that relate to the reports required by subsection 3 (3);

  (e)  prescribing functions of the Minister for the purposes of clause 4 (c);

    (f)  respecting any matter that is necessary or advisable for the effective implementation and administration of this Act;

  (g)  providing for transitional matters to facilitate the implementation of this Act.

Building Code Act, 1992 amendment

   6.  The Building Code Act, 1992 is amended by adding the following section:

Wood Frame Buildings

Building code requirement re wood frame buildings

   30.1  (1)  The building code shall allow a building that is six storeys or less in building height to be of wood frame construction.

Same

   (2)  For greater certainty, subsection (1) does not prevent the building code from,

  (a)  imposing reasonable requirements on buildings of wood frame construction, including requirements relating to safety; and

  (b)  prohibiting specified classes of buildings from being of wood frame construction.

Commencement

   7.  This Act comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor.

Short title

   8.  The short title of this Act is the Ontario's Wood First Act, 2012.

 

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Bill enacts the Ontario's Wood First Act, 2012 to provide that specified provincially funded buildings must be constructed using wood as the primary building material.  It also provides the Minister with various powers to promote the use of wood in the construction of buildings.

The Bill also amends the Building Code Act, 1992 to provide that the building code shall allow a building that is six storeys or less in building height to be of wood frame construction.  This does not prevent the code from imposing requirements on or prohibiting specified classes of wood frame buildings.