A seagull stands atop a statue of Captain George Vancouver outside Vancouver City Hall, in January, 2021.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Vancouver city council has voted narrowly to maintain its ban on natural gas for heating and water in new buildings, despite arguments that the bylaw was driving up the cost of new housing.
Councillors have been deeply divided on the issue for months, with those supporting the existing ban arguing that its an important part of the city’s climate-change initiative. Those opposed to the ban contend that now is the wrong time to be sticking to policies that contribute to the housing affordability crisis.
The policy was first enacted in 2022, but in July, councillors passed a motion to eliminate the ban by only one vote.
However, before a final vote, staff were asked to come to council with more information concerning the impacts on construction affordability and permitting and to provide options. So councillors had to vote again on a formal change to the policy. That vote ended in a 5-5 tie, meaning the ban stays in place.
ABC Councillor Rebecca Bligh, who had voted in July to eliminate the ban, changed her vote on Wednesday, saying council had incomplete and incorrect information in the first vote – a pointed criticism of other councillors in her party.
She noted a staff report that showed requiring buildings to use electricity for heating and hot water did not make construction more expensive or complicated.
“I believe we made the wrong decision,” she said, referring to the July vote.
She and others said rolling back the natural-gas rules would seriously damage Vancouver’s reputation as a leader in green building and also wreak havoc in the construction industry with all the rules changes.
The motion in July was brought forward by ABC Councillor Brian Montague with no previous notice and upset the local environmental and construction industry.
At the Wednesday meeting, Mayor Ken Sim and four other ABC councillors voted to proceed with eliminating the ban. They were tied with three ABC councillors and the two Green Party members.
The council members who supported ending the ban raised questions about whether BC Hydro is really providing clean energy, when it buys from Alberta and Montana. They also questioned whether BC Hydro’s electricity rates were likely to skyrocket as it manages debt from its Site C damn construction and other expensive infrastructure projects.
But supporters of the ban said Vancouver’s leadership had encouraged Asian and European manufacturers of items such as heat pumps and other technology related to electric heating to ramp up their businesses to provide for the North American market. This would produce an effect far beyond the city.
The Green Party’s Adriane Carr said she was enormously relieved that significant public input and Ms. Bligh’s willingness to re-examine her vote pushed off what could have been a serious setback for climate-change efforts and the city.
But, she also said that the current ABC council has hobbled climate-change work and curtailed her ability to advocate on those issues. Despite his early pledge to ensure that Vancouver city councillors work collaboratively, Mr. Sim and his ABC councillors recently voted to strip all non-ABC councillors of their positions on city committees and in Metro Vancouver governance posts.
Ms. Carr said she’s considering resigning so a by-election for her position can be held in the spring at the same time as one must be called to replace departing OneCity Councillor Christine Boyle, who was elected an NDP MLA in the October election. Ms. Carr was first elected in 2011.