The provincial and federal housing ministers have fired warning shots over the Vancouver mayor’s second attempt to reverse his city’s restrictions on natural gas heating for buildings and water.
Mayor Ken Sim tabled a motion last week directing city staff to review the city’s housing and energy regulations, pause the city’s program to reduce carbon pollution from existing buildings and rollback rules to transition the city away from gas boilers for hot water, in the name of affordability. Council is slated to vote on the motion Wednesday afternoon.
A similar attempt by Sim and his political allies in 2024 failed in the face of widespread criticism from residents and businesses.
Several analyses — including from BC Hydro, BC Housing and Clean Energy Canada — say installing electric heating systems like heat pumps in new buildings typically costs the same or less than using gas. Buildings account for nearly 60 per cent of Vancouver’s emissions, largely because of natural gas heating. City staff concluded last year that even with the current restrictions, natural gas use in buildings is making the city’s emissions soar.
If passed, the motion will lower Vancouver’s emissions standards for buildings below those adopted by communities home to nearly half the province’s population, including Vancouver neighbours such as Richmond and Burnaby.
In a Tuesday letter, Christine Boyle, BC’s minister of housing and municipal affairs and a former Vancouver city councillor, asked the mayor to pause until autumn any decisions regarding the city’s restrictions on natural gas use in new buildings.
Boyle’s office is consulting with builders and other businesses on a plan to require all BC municipalities to implement similar restrictions in an effort to help the province reduce emissions. If Vancouver abruptly eliminates its restrictions on gas, Boyle says the city will increase “confusion, cost and delays for builders.”
Boyle’s letter was joined by a statement on Wednesday from Gregor Robertson, federal housing minister and a former Vancouver mayor known for his pro-environment policies.
“For over a decade, people in Vancouver — and three different councils — have strongly supported phasing gas heating out of our homes and buildings for affordability, health, and climate reasons. This makes it even more disappointing to see [Vancouver] city council considering a backslide on installing gas heating in new buildings.”
“As we work to build affordable and resilient communities across Canada, we need to be leaders on bold urban climate action — which Vancouver is known for around the world,” he wrote.
Sim wasted no time in hitting back at Boyle, the provincial housing minister. Hours after receiving her letter, the mayor sent her an email dismissing her warning as an “eleventh-hour attempt to intervene in an active Vancouver City Council debate on energy choice and affordability,” and accusing her of intervening in a council debate “to influence the outcome.”
“What makes this particularly surprising is that your government is currently pursuing the largest expansion of natural gas development in BC history through LNG Canada Phase 2 and the Ksi Lisims LNG project. Yet you are advocating that Vancouver Council not to pass a motion that would improve housing affordability and energy choice for residents,” he wrote.
Energy analysts have criticized the BC and federal governments for supporting both LNG projects, neither of which will provide natural gas to Canadians as they are designed for export. They note it’s unclear if the LNG projects will actually be profitable, but are sure to increase carbon emissions and harm the climate.
The last time Sim and his allies tried to reverse the ban in 2024, a coalition of homebuilders noted that Vancouver’s affordability crisis “is not the result of current emissions limits for new buildings.” Building costs are far more influenced by financing rates, permitting times and fees, labour, equipment and material costs and land values, they wrote.
Sim’s office did not respond to a question from Canada’s National Observer regarding the statement by Robertson, the federal housing minister.