Green Building Day on the Hill 2024

How can sustainable development drive economic resilience? That question was at the heart of many discussions at Green Building Day on The Hill, the third consecutive year of CAGBC’s flagship policy event. The initiative brought together industry leaders and policymakers to explore strategies for value-added green building practices that enhance both environmental and economic outcomes.   

Throughout Green Building Day on the Hill, CAGBC facilitated strategic discussions with key stakeholders in the building sector and public servants. The event kicked off with opening remarks from Thomas Mueller, CAGBC President and CEO, about the importance of collaboration between the public and private sector, followed by three landmark sessions that examined critical aspects of sustainable development.  

The first panel, “2023-2024: The Year Green Building Policies Adoption Accelerated,” was moderated by Josée Lupien, President of Vertima, and featuring Jamie Dabner of Introba, Hugo Lafrance of lemay, and Martin Luymes of HRAI.

The panelists reflected on the last year and examined implementation challenges facing the industry. The discussion highlighted gaps between policy ambitions and market readiness, particularly around workforce capacity and skills development.

“It seems like we’re two years behind,” Lupien says, pointing to the lack of labour readiness and training and summarizing the feedback from the panel. “How can we train them and make them feel comfortable to work on new technologies? We also need to adapt our language… It’s all about resilience and stronger conversation about embodied carbon. The next steps will be important so it’s wonderful to hear from all these good experts today.”

The panelists also touched on how policy is moving at different paces federally, provincially and at the municipal level. They called for greater coherence at provincial level, and for industry to help educate elected officials on readily available technologies such as heat pumps to advance sustainability goals and achieve affordability, as well as how to help implement new technologies through workforce capacity building.  

The second session, “The Politics of Scaling Up Sustainable Housing in Canada,” moderated by Aidan Grove-White of StrategyCorp., sparked candid dialogue about the intersection of sustainability and housing affordability. Panelists included of Mike Andrade of Morgan Solar, Benjamin Dachis of Clean Prosperity Institute, and Perry Tsergas of spark*advocacy. 

In a particularly engaging exchange, the panelists challenged the “Buckley’s approach” – the idea that people should accept higher upfront costs simply because sustainability is good for them in the long run. The discussion highlighted how sustainable building movement can be, and should be, simplified as a kitchen table issue by focusing on immediate cost benefits to Canadians rather than distant environmental gains—an approach that would also make it tangible for more conservative audiences.  

“Perhaps, we can look to different conservative friendly policy tools for it. But we’re not going to win if we’re saying, ‘suck it up buttercup’ – this is good for you. It’s not going to work,” says Grove-White, reflecting on the panel’s discussion about needing to reframe green building messaging and their suggestions on how to make green building benefits tangible should a conservative government come to power.   

Led by Rachel McCormick of Natural Resources Canada, the final panel – “Decarbonizing Buildings, A Global Shift for Business and Governments” – examined how market trends and policy innovations are driving practical decarbonization strategies across the building sector, pointing to successes in France as a model for implementation. The panel drew on the expertise of Dominika Czerwinska of the World Green Building Council, who provided a global context around the Buildings Breakthrough agenda, Ben Evans from the US Green Building Council who spoke on the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act, and Carole Semichon of the Ambassade de France au Canada, who provided insight into France’s building labelling system and approaches to sustainable development and climate change. 

Asked about her key takeaway from the discussion, McCormick emphasized “the importance of standards collaboration and thinking about how we drive action that can be measured at the international level, and the leadership that industry and government need to provide together.”

Building on McCormick’s message, Mueller highlighted two key themes from this year’s Green Building Day on The Hill. “One takeaway is collaboration – that industry and government need to work together, and industry itself needs to work together to arrive at the best solutions to carry it forward,” he says. “The second is how we communicate sustainability to Canadians. At the end of the day, people do things that benefit them. We know green building will benefit them, but we may have not done a good enough job of really communicating that.”

The day culminated in a Parliamentary Reception, sponsored by Julie Dabrusin (Liberal Party of Canada), Charlie Angus (New Democratic Party), and Mike Morrice (Green Party of Canada), which provided an opportunity for informal discussions and networking among industry leaders, parliamentarians, and policy experts. CAGBC thanks MP Morrice for speaking and sharing his perspective on the green building sector at the reception.

CAGBC extends its gratitude to all sponsors, participants, and the Members of Parliament, including the Minister of International Development, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, who contributed to the success of Green Building Day on The Hill 2024. The discussions and commitments made during this year’s event will play a crucial role in advancing Canada’s sustainable building agenda and supporting the country’s economic resilience through green development and catalyst members.

Supported by: