Vancouver city council surprised many Tuesday by reversing a long-standing bylaw that bans natural gas, used for heating, in newly-built homes.
Councillors voted 6-5 in favour of the change, with Mayor Ken Sim casting the tie-breaking vote remotely from his vacation.
Proponents say the move will help spur more home construction in the city, but critics say it sets the city up to fail on its climate goals.
ABC Coun. Brian Montague, who proposed the motion, said in an interview with CBC’s On The Coast that the change would reduce barriers for building middle-income and multiplex housing and make Vancouver more affordable.
“People want to have the choice on how to cook their food,” he said. “They want to have a choice on how they heat their homes and how they heat their water, and they want to have a choice on how much they pay to do that.”
Tom Davidoff, associate professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, said it’s hard to dispute that giving builders more choice would create more housing.
But he noted that gas is a premium product relative to electric items in most settings.
“A gas fireplace is a luxury amenity relative to anything you can do with electricity,” Davidoff said. “So maybe you’re pitching the housing stock at a higher income point than you would have been without this.
“On balance, my guess is this is kind of a wash for affordability, and the really important consideration is the environmental one.”
On The Coast spoke to two councillors who voted on a motion to allow natural gas in new homes in Vancouver. Brian Montague says the measure will help ease housing affordability, while Pete Fry says it will damage the city’s environmental goals.
The Green Party of Vancouver and environmental groups have heavily criticized the move, and ABC councillors Peter Meiszner and Lisa Dominato joined the opposition during the Tuesday vote.
Critics said Vancouver is known as a climate leader, and this decision is undoing a lot of that progress.
“All momentum is heading towards electrification, so this is a massive and regressive step backwards,” said Green Coun. Pete Fry.
Liz McDowell, the senior campaigns director for non-profit Stand.earth, added that burning natural gas in buildings creates a huge amount of emissions. By the city’s estimate, it accounts for 55 per cent of the carbon pollution generated in Vancouver.
The city is already not on course to meet its target of reducing carbon pollution by 50 per cent by 2030, according to a report from its general manager of planning.
McDowell also called the motion a direct result of gas industry lobbying, adding that Sim and Montague closely used the talking points of the natural gas company FortisBC while debating the motion.
Montague told CBC that he met with the natural gas company, but he had had conversations with provincial power utility B.C. Hydro as well.
He also noted that Vancouver isn’t meeting its climate targets, but attributed it to the electrification policy.
“This was an ineffective and failing electrification-only policy that was chasing unattainable goals,” Montague said.
A new Vancouver bylaw that comes into effect June 1 requires approximately 200 large commercial buildings to track and reduce greenhouse gas emissions or face hefty fines when a grace period ends in 2026. Many building owners say the requirements are feasible, but will come at a cost.
Wendy McNeill, acting CEO of the Homebuilders Association Vancouver, said she was “quite surprised” at the bylaw reversal, because she didn’t know the issue would be on the table.
But she called it positive news, as her group has advocated for giving builders choice.
“This is like the single biggest investment people will make and having that ability to make that pathway, that choice, is important,” she said.
McNeil added that the association is focused on building better buildings and reducing carbon use regardless of the fuel source.
“The common goal for everything is to use less of it, no matter where it’s coming from,” she said.