Toronto Catholic School board lobbies to be exempt from green roof requirement

The Catholic School Board of Toronto has been lobbying councillors and staff to exempt them from the green roof requirement of the By-law for nine new projects, arguing instead that they be allowed to install white or reflective roofs and hold 5mm of rain rather than a green roof. This is the same argument used by the industrial sector to exempt them from the Green Roof By-Law, for the second time since the By-Law was introduced.

While the green roof By-law remained relatively unscathed so far under the current Mayor Ford’s ideologically-conservative cost-cutting measures, the political climate has been tense and divisive and has focused on trying to preserve existing social services and environmental measures from cuts, rather than city-building and looking forward. This means that it is unlikely that there will be any expansion of the green roof By-law, or any environmental initiative, under the current political leadership.