Should the government force the owners to keep their building fresh in summer?

While a study by Statistics Canada has shown that at least 900 deaths in 20 years had been attributed to heat in large Canadian cities, some Canadian municipalities have adopted regulations to help tenants stay in the fridge.

In Quebec, standards specify the minimum temperatures to be kept in housing in winter. However, no regulations set maximum temperature not to exceed in summer, despite the increasingly frequent heat waves.

Le Cas de l’Ontario

In September 2024, a London municipal council committee proposed the adoption of a regulation forcing owners to maintain the temperature of rental housing at less than 26 degrees Celsius.

In Hamilton, the city helps low -income households get an air conditioner. This year, a larger number of tenants will receive financial assistance to buy an air conditioning system in anticipation of a summer that promises to be hot and humid.

Ontario Worksa social assistance program, already grants subsidies for the purchase of air conditioners at around 50 residents from Hamilton, according to its annual report.

Thanks to additional municipal funding of $ 52,500, the program will now be able to support up to 200 people.

An investigation carried out by theAssociation of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a Canadian organization that defends the interests of low -income people, reveals that the main obstacles to the installation of air conditioners are their high cost, the fear of being expelled and the clauses of baux which prohibit the installation of air conditioning devices.

According to the report, 44 % of the 700 tenants interviewed do not have access to air conditioning, and 67 % of those who assume its own use.

Montreal buildings that are difficult to renovate

Margaret van nooten, social worker at project genesis, a OBNL Montrealers, says they often meet tenants who ask him if there is a heat limit in an apartment.

Montreal is a city with many old buildings. They therefore do not have a central heating systemshe explains.

In the absence of ducts, it is not easy to connect a central cooling system.

The president of the association of owners of Quebec, Martin Messier, recognizes that the modernization of old buildings is not an easy task and that it is not only a question of adding conduits.

They do not have the necessary electrical power to meet such a requesthe explains.

However, he believes that this question will have to be integrated into the standards governing new constructions.

Quebec says it looks at the question

A study carried out in 2024 by the National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS) of Quebec indicates that heat is responsible for 470 deaths per year in the province, and that this number will increase if nothing changes. In addition to deaths, there are more than 200 hospitalizations and thousands of emergency visits.

The City of Montreal has not responded to a comment request, but the Quebec government says it looks at the issue.

According to a spokesperson for the Quebec Minister of Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, the adaptation of housing to heat waves is part of concern Linked to housing.

With information from Isaac Olson de CBC News