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10mo ago

Civil Society Coalition Presses Ontario for Binding Extreme-Heat Measures

Advocates warn non-binding guidance coupled with unimplemented regulations leave Ontarians vulnerable as heat waves intensify.

During a heat, a child soars into the air at the Splash N Go Adventure Parks inflatable water park on Ramsey Lake in Sudbury, Ont. on Monday July 28, 2025.
People shade under an umbrella as they visit the banks of the Ottawa River, in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Overview

  • On August 18, the Heat Collaborative pressed Queen’s Park to launch an extreme-heat awareness program and to track and publicly report heat-related deaths and hospital visits.
  • The coalition demands enforceable heat-stress rules for workers, citing risks to migrant farm labourers and precarious employees fearing reprisal for reporting unsafe conditions.
  • Advocates call on the province to guarantee air conditioning in schools, noting that only one-third of Toronto District School Board campuses have central cooling and a $4.45-billion repair backlog.
  • The group also seeks tenant protections such as maximum indoor temperature caps at 26 °C and retrofit funding tied to anti-eviction measures to shield renters from heat and rent hikes.
  • The Ontario government says it already offers a workplace heat-stress toolkit, requires school heat protocols and has pledged $30 billion over 10 years for school infrastructure, but mandatory regulations proposed two years ago have not been enacted.