Builders and advocates call for green standards in Build Canada Homes program

Nearly 90 builders, business leaders, and environmental groups are urging Ottawa to make sure that every home built under the new Build Canada Homes program is green, affordable, and future-proof.

In an open letter to the federal Housing Ministry, the coalition calls for a ban on outdated oil and gas furnaces in favour of modern, clean technologies like electric heat pumps. Their timing is no accident—the government is currently seeking feedback on how to design the new agency, which is tasked with building millions of homes in the years ahead.

Lana Goldberg, Climate Campaigner with Stand.earth, the group behind the letter, summed it up this way: “We desperately need affordable homes, but we’ve also made promises to act on climate change. We can—and must—do both at the same time. Our tax dollars shouldn’t be spent on homes that will only increase pollution.”

The letter is backed by leading architects, engineers such as Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors, and national environmental organizations including Stand.earth, Équiterre, the David Suzuki Foundation, and Environmental Defence. Together, they argue that heat pumps are cheaper to install, cleaner to operate, and can even double as air conditioning during hot summers—without the need for costly new pipelines.

The building sector is currently Canada’s third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from fossil-fuel heating. Switching to all-electric homes, signatories say, is a practical way to cut pollution while saving homeowners money.

Bruce Murdoch, a B.C. homebuilder with K-Country Homes, says he’s already proving the point: “In our company we only build all-electric. Heat pump systems are simpler, faster to install, and cheaper for families to run. If federally funded homes aren’t all-electric, we’re just locking Canadians into retrofits later.”

Advocates add that building green is about more than carbon—it’s about health and resilience too. With wildfire smoke now a regular summer threat, heat pumps’ built-in filtration systems can help keep indoor air safe.

As Build Canada Homes looks for public input on “better building methods,” this coalition wants to ensure better means greener.