Question Period Note: NATIONAL BUILDING CODES (NRC)

When it comes to building codes, what is the Government of Canada doing to protect Canadians?

• Building codes protect the health and safety of Canadians.
• The Government of Canada has made the national building codes free so that provinces and territories can adopt them and in turn, provide free access to their own building codes.
• This is reducing building and regulatory costs, improving productivity and innovative capacity, and reducing costs for Canada’s construction industry.
• Together, we are creating jobs and economic activity across the country. Providing free access to national building codes will create up to $1 billion in annual benefit to Canada.

SUPPLEMENTARY MESSAGES
• Developing and updating the National Building Codes is the responsibility of an independent committee of industry, regulatory and public interest experts.
• The National Research Council publishes the codes when they are updated every five years, with the latest edition currently slated for a spring 2020 release. These codes have no force in law until they are adopted by the provinces and territories.

NRC Codes Provided at No Cost to the Consumer

As of April 1, 2019, the National Research Council (NRC) has made electronic versions of the National Building Code of Canada available at no cost to the consumer.

On July 24, 2019, the NRC and the Government of British Columbia (BC) signed an agreement that removed any royalty obligations to the NRC and made access to the BC Building Codes free in electronic format. The Government of British Columbia will be reimbursing consumers who purchased the BC Building Code after November 21, 2018, the date of their announcement for free access to the codes. Since November 21, 2018, BC has collected $2.5 million in royalties for electronic codes and hard copy sales.

National Model Codes

Canada has a centralized system for model code development, which began in the 1930s.

The Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes (CCBFC), an independent and public committee of volunteers established by the National Research Council (NRC), is responsible for developing and updating the National Model Construction Codes. These codes are in no way meant to represent federal codes or regulations.

Under Canada's Constitution, provinces and territories regulate the design and construction of new houses and buildings, and the maintenance and operation of fire safety systems in existing buildings. Enforcement is the responsibility of the appropriate provincial and territorial authorities who publish provincial or territorial building codes. Provinces can adopt approved changes without waiting for the publication of the compendium.

The Fall Economic Statement 2018 proposed to provide $67.5 million over five years to the National Research Council of Canada, with $13.5 million ongoing, to make access to the National Building Codes free, and to provide sufficient resources for the federal government to address provincial, territorial, and other stakeholder code development priorities in a more timely way.

As a result, the NRC made electronic access to the national model codes free in April 2019. Printed formats of the codes were also made available at a reduced price (to cover the costs of printing and shipping).

Guides integrating climate resiliency into the design and rehabilitation of public infrastructure will also be ready for adoption by 2020. These initiatives to integrate climate resilience into the National Model Building Codes and into guides pertaining to public infrastructure are in agreement with the recommendation of the performance audit from the Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development on Federal Support to Mitigate the Effects of Severe Weather.

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