In Toronto it's screw the environment, there's money to be made

"Hey, we have house plants in our condo, we've done our part..."

It didn’t take long, just months in fact. In that short time, Toronto has gone from the self-proclaimed “greenest city in North America” to just another environmental laggard.

The city’s green roof requirements for industrial buildings, which were to have taken effect Jan. 31, now seem likely to be delayed more than a year. According to a staff report, the extra time is needed to allow for “further consultation with industry stakeholders.”

A polite word for this is bunk. It is 100 percent pure nonsense of the most abjectly self-serving, short-sighted and ultimately self-destructive sort.

Of course, it will resonate with Toronto’s new Family Compact, Rob and Doug Ford, for whom business can do no wrong.

Naturally, business and the development industry hate the bylaw; from their point of view, it means they must spend more. The fact it is the right thing to do counts for little in their eyes save, perhaps, as an opportunity for good PR. Sadly, this is normal corporate behaviour, irresponsible, indifferent, some would argue, sociopathic, in its disregard for anything beyond its own immediate needs.

Read more here.