Green Party Coun. Adriane Carr has withdrawn a motion that was to be heard Wednesday that requests a review of a 6-5 council decision in July to reverse the city’s policy on banning natural gas in new home construction.
Carr told Glacier Media that she wanted to first hear back from city staff on an anticipated report that aims to explain how such a reversal of the policy would be implemented, along with direction on enacting a bylaw.
That report is expected to go before council in November.
“I want to make sure that that the focus is on the substance of the policy regarding changing the gas ban in new homes, rather than the democratic process of [how council arrived at the 6-5 decision],” said Carr, who cast in July.
She emphasized that she is still concerned about the move led by ABC Vancouver Coun. Brian Montague and how it came about, noting questions remain about lobbying efforts and ties to an advisor working in Mayor Ken Sim’s office.
Carr’s comments come as her Green colleague Pete Fry has a motion going before council Wednesday that calls for a voluntary lobbyist registry. ABC Coun. Lenny Zhou is also calling for the provincial government to create such a registry.
'Well-intentioned' policy
During debate in July, Montague outlined his reasons for reversing the policy, including the cost of building a house solely powered by electricity, giving builders a choice of natural gas or electrification and potentially unlocking more home construction.
He said the city’s “well-intentioned” policy from 2022 to only allow natural gas in new homes for cooking and powering a fireplace translates to a negative effect on affordability, both for builders and potential renters or buyers.
“Many of those costs will be passed directly to — or will trickle down — to seniors, renters and those who can least afford them,” he said at the time.
“Limiting energy options is a significant barrier to creating more housing, especially much-needed missing middle and multiplex housing because the costs are being driven way too high.”
Five of Montague’s ABC colleagues, including Sim, agreed with his argument.
Since that meeting, Postmedia reporter Dan Fumano reported that David Grewal, senior adviser to Sim, was involved in discussions around the city’s natural gas policy, including meeting with Gurpreet Vinning, a registered lobbyist for Fortis.
Montague and ABC councillors Mike Klassen and Lenny Zhou also met with Vinning, according to the councillors’ online calendars posted on the city’s website.
Met with Fortis lobbyist
Glacier Media asked the mayor’s office to clarify whether there was any lobbying from the gas industry before the decision in July and whether Grewal has a connection to council's policy reversal.
Trevor Ford, the mayor’s chief of staff, responded Monday via an emailed statement, saying the mayor's office supported Montague’s amendment on natural gas use because it aligned with ABC Vancouver’s commitment to advancing policies that build more homes faster in Vancouver.
“This decision was based on conversations from industry and ongoing feedback we've received from small-scale multi-family home builders, who have consistently raised concerns that the inability to use natural gas for heating and hot water has been slowing down the building process and getting new units online with wait times exceeding six months in some cases,” Ford said.
The policy direction was developed by the mayor’s office policy and legislative team.
Ford said Grewal — a co-founder of Absolute Energy and Bluestream Energy — regularly engages with stakeholders across all industries, including homebuilding and telecommunications, “to gather insights.”
Meeting with industry representatives is part of Grewal’s role to ensure informed decision-making, he said.
“I want to clarify that David’s businesses have a limited scope in the residential market, if any at all,” Ford said. “Absolute Energy primarily serves commercial, industrial and institutional clients. Bluestream Energy, on the other hand, provides natural gas to small commercial buildings, apartment buildings, restaurants and hotels.”
Grewal’s companies operate across North America, focused on California and the mid-western United States. They do not operate in the single-family home or duplex/triplex/fourplex/six-plex markets, Ford said.
“Thus, this policy shift will have almost no impact on either company,” he said. “Ultimately, the decision to support natural gas use was made to support the construction of more homes, faster. This aligns with our broader agenda of removing barriers to housing development, a priority for the mayor and council.”
'Serious electricity shortfalls'
Council’s move in July has been met with mixed reaction in the home building industry.
The BC Coalition for Affordable Energy issued a news release after the vote, saying it strongly supported the Montague-led decision.
“Vancouver city council has now made a wise decision to give consumers and builders the choice of whether to use electric or renewable natural gas and natural gas in new buildings after seeing that we need affordable and dependable energy choices at a time when B.C. is suffering serious electricity shortfalls and impending higher costs,” said Bill Tieleman, director of the coalition.
Tieleman noted that BC Hydro imported $500 million in electricity last year — 20 per cent of its total electricity — “and this year looks even worse” due to snowpack and river levels at their lowest since 1970.
The release included quotes from leaders of the BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association, Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association of Canada, the Alliance of Beverage Licensees BC and Surrey Board of Trade.
'Bad for business'
More recently, 39 building industry leaders sent a letter in October to mayor and council, requesting the decision to reverse the ban on natural gas be reconsidered.
“While Vancouver is clearly suffering from a housing affordability crisis, this is not the result of the current emissions limits for new buildings,” said the letter obtained by Glacier Media.
“As established by and corroborated by BC Housing a few months ago, near-zero emissions [all-electric] and energy-efficient buildings are being built throughout B.C., including in Vancouver, for a wide variety of square foot costs. Some of these high-performance buildings are being built for less than the average cost.”
The leaders said construction or development costs and schedule are determined by far more dominant factors such as financing terms and rates, permitting times and fees, development cost charges, labour, material and equipment cost and availability, land values, “and a variety of other factors that render the financial impact of emissions limits insignificant in most cases.”
While electrification challenges exist with some projects, the leaders said they know BC Hydro is listening to the building industry, evolving quickly “and we are confident that BC Hydro is positioning itself to deliver for many more new, all-electric buildings.”
Added the leaders: “Reversing a requirement that has been in place for a year or two contributes to market uncertainty and this is bad for business. It risks erasing the progress that the local building community has made in the last few years and undermines our position as national leaders in high-performance buildings.”
'Going backwards'
Chris Hill, president of B Collective Homes Inc., was among the 39 signatories to the letter.
Hill said he was worried about what a policy reversal would mean for the city’s reputation as a leader in fighting climate change.
“To go backwards is very damning to that movement and will have a ripple effect across North America,” he said. “I just don’t know why we’re going backwards at this point.”
His observation of the industry is that the biggest pushback against the natural gas ban in new homes is coming from speculators, not from owners who will live in or operate a home.
“If you think of social housing, affordable housing, rental housing, those are assets that someone has to maintain into the future — or it’s a consumer building their own house,” he said.
“The biggest opposition for these kinds of changes is coming from entities that are not going to own that asset in the near future, which would be speculation developers; they don't care about the long-term benefits of these moves.”
Clean Energy Canada
released a report Oct. 16 saying its analysis found that a household in Toronto that switched out its gas cars for electric versions, ditched their natural gas appliances, installed a heat pump, and made a few energy efficiency upgrades would cut $550 off their monthly bill, even taking into account upfront costs.
A similar house in Vancouver could save $777.
“And to make it even better, these families would reduce the carbon footprint of their cars and homes by more than 90 per cent,” the report said. “The picture is the same across most of the country. The equivalent household would save hundreds of dollars a month in almost every province.”
At the same time, the report noted that despite the savings benefits of clean technologies, the barrier to entry for many Canadians is higher than it was a year ago.
For one, the federal government’s Greener Homes Grant (that offered up to $5,000 off the price of a heat pump and other energy savings measures) has been discontinued, although it is set to be replaced by a program assisting low-to median-income households.
The majority of Vancouver’s carbon pollution — 55 per cent — comes from natural gas use in homes and buildings. Another 40 per cent of emissions are generated by gas-powered vehicles.
