Revisions required to the National Building Code

The Issue:
The Federal government funds the development of model codes through the National Research Council*, which is overseen by the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes (CCBFC). CCBFC oversees production of the model National Building Code. This model sets out minimum requirements addressing safety, health, accessibility and building protection.

However, new home construction falls under the jurisdiction of the provinces and territories. Most provinces and territories have passed legislation adopting either the National Model Building Code, produced by the CCBFC, or variations that include provincial and territorial additions, exemptions, or amendments.

*The National Research Council is an agency that reports to Industry Canada .

Canadians for Properly Built Homes' Position:

Canadians for Properly Built Homes is calling for the Federal government to revise the National Building Code to help ensure that all homes are safe, healthy, durable and energy efficient. Examples of specific revisions required include: improving indoor air quality, establishing longevity standards and improving energy saving requirements.

Improving indoor air quality – Canadians spend an average of 90% of their time inside, and our homes may contain substances that may be hazardous to our health, e.g., mould, carbon monoxide, chemical omissions from building materials, etc. Canadians require enhanced requirements in the National Building Code to help ensure that indoor air quality in new homes is acceptable.

Establishing longevity standards – Since Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) got out of the business of inspecting during construction in the 1980s, new housing quality has sunk to what many Canadians now call "disposable" housing. Longevity standards will help to address this issue.  

Improving energy saving requirements – Residential heating and cooling accounts for approximately 10% of all energy used in Canada . Canada has an opportunity to significantly reduce the amount of energy used in new home as the technology is available, at an affordable cost. University of Toronto paper.

However, governments have been reluctant to impose more stringent requirements on builders relating to energy efficiency. For more information, please refer to: http://www.canadiansforproperlybuilthomes.com/html/energy_efficiency.html

Unfortunately, Natural Resources Canada seems to be primarily focusing on its goal of all new homes built having an ENGH 80 level of energy by 2010. Given that there are more than 200,000 housing starts in Canada annually, using this conservative annual estimate and projecting out to 2010, this means that there will be more than one million new homes in Canada's housing stock built from 2005 to 2010, and given current Codes and practices, the majority of these will continue to be very energy inefficient. This is simply unacceptable.

What can concerned citizens do?

• Write or telephone your Federal Member of Parliament and request that he/she ensures that these revisions to the National Building Code are made.
   
• Write or telephone the Federal Minister of Industry, the Honourable Maxime Bernier, at his Hill office: House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6, 
  E-Mail: Bernier.M@parl.gc.ca  Telephone: (613) 992-8053

• Write or telephone the Federal Minister responsible for CMHC:   The Honourable Diane Finley, House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6, E-Mail: Finley.D@parl.gc.ca, Telephone: (613) 996-4974