“Mr. Speaker, the member mentioned taxes and costs from the government. The member has already spoken about that. The government has other tools. Instead of setting up a bureaucracy to spend and waste money, the government could be doing other things. One of the things that I would like the member’s comments on is building codes. It has been estimated that the latest round of building codes created by the government agencies will potentially add $115,000 to the cost of an average house in Canada. I wonder if maybe changing the building codes or keeping in mind the cost of things that are happening in the building codes might be an even easier, simpler way to reduce the cost of housing in our country.”
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Thanks 19%Claims 81%
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Mr. Speaker, Thanks · 38 wordsthat is another incredibly insightful question from my colleague.He happens to be a builder, and he knows what he is talking about.He has actually built homes, 2and he understands these changes and what they have done.ThanksClaims · 164 wordsThe real problem with the building codes process federally is, of course, the process itself.There is a whole process that they go through where they make recommendations to make changes to the code.Then provinces may or may not adopt that.The interesting thing about these code review bodies is that they are populated, mostly, not by electricians or plumbers or carpenters, but by lobbyists and salespeople for the people who manufacture these products.In fact, they do not ever consider what the cost implications are of the changes they are making.The Canadian Home Builders’ Association reports that over the last 10 years, changes made to the building codes have added over $100,000 to the cost of a home.1Not all of those things are common-sense, energy efficiency-type things.They have just added more cost, and there has been no consideration by the national building codes or the National Research Council of what that means for the cost of a new home.
