Vancouver narrowly votes to turn back clock, allow natural gas in new builds

A tight vote by Vancouver city council means that natural gas will again be allowed in new home builds. That decision is drawing the ire of opposition.

Mayor Ken Sim called in from his vacation on Tuesday to vote in favour of the controversial amendment to the city’s environmental and climate change plan.

The motion, which passed six votes to five, will allow new builds to use natural gas for heat and hot water.

Coun. Brian Montague brought the motion forward to council, claiming it would improve affordability for people living in the most expensive city in Canada.

“People want to have a choice. A choice of how they heat their homes, how they heat their water, how they cook their food. A choice of how much they spend to do that,” Montague said.

Two members of the ABC Vancouver party, which holds seven of ten seats on council, did not back Montague’s motion and defected from voting in line with the party. That move required the mayor to step in.

The plan drew immediate criticism from the opposition Greens on council, who say the move to allow fossil fuels in new builds is a move in the wrong direction.

“Rolling this back now hobbles the industry. … the industry, BC Hydro, everybody’s been working towards this electrification mandate, and now that they don’t have to it’s going to change everything,” Coun. Pete Fry said.

City staff expressed concerns about the impact of flipping back regulations on project applications already under consideration, as well as the impact on emissions goals.

The city shared that even prior to the vote, it was not on track to meet its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2030. The city looks to only hit a 40 per cent reduction by 2030.

The provincial government is set to ban the sale of natural gas heaters and hot water heaters from 2030, which the city says won’t affect projects in the coming years, and only after those owners need to replace those appliances.