How hot is too hot? Windsor councillor wants to know if the city can regulate minimum cooling standards

Kieran McKenzie wonders if the city could do more to ensure proper air conditioning in buildings.

“What I'm looking for is a review of our building code policies in order to address climate change,” McKenzie told the media Monday after a brief council meeting.

“Just a couple of weeks ago, we saw some extreme heat warnings for a number of days in a row,” McKenzie said. “I think that there's risk associated with that, and with having that space currently unregulated.”

He said the current codes have rules around how warm a building must be in the winter months, but it “doesn’t speak to elevated temperatures.”

McKenzie raised the issue at the close of the regular council meeting during council questions.

It’s not clear when administration might report back on the idea of enforcing minimum cool temperatures in the summer in new builds and city “assets.”

“I think we all have to acknowledge that climate change is real and that those impacts need to be mitigated with the various tools that we could potentially implement to protect residents in the community,” said McKenzie.

He did note, any changes to city building codes would not be applicable to schools in the city.

There are a number of schools in Windsor without central air conditioning.

During a late June heat wave, teacher unions and opposition political party leaders were calling for regulations to enforce cool temperatures in schools.