Vancouver natural gas policy sparks provincial campaign battle

Vancouver’s controversial new energy and emission targets became a flashpoint in the provincial election on the weekend, sparking an exchange of words Sunday between B.C. Liberal candidate Andrew Wilkinson and NDP Leader John Horgan.

Wilkinson announced Saturday that, if elected, a Liberal government would block the city’s new policy, which comes into effect Monday and encourages the use of renewable natural gas in new construction.

Speaking at a playground in Vancouver-Fraserview on Sunday, Horgan called Wilkinson’s vow to block the city policy an attempt to “change the subject” as the election nears.

“This is a Vancouver issue that has been discussed for almost the last eight months. Why it became important to Mr Wilkinson is, we’ve got nine days until the next election,” said Horgan.

Horgan said he had no plan to deal with the issue over the next nine days, but planned to talk to all B.C. mayors about “building a better B.C.,” and to Mayor Gregor Robertson in particular “about building the housing citizens desperately need in the Lower Mainland.”

Wilkinson followed up later Sunday in a statement criticizing Horgan, and accusing him of not standing up for Vancouver residents and restaurants on the issue.

After Wilkinson’s initial comments, the city issued a clarification stating that it “is not banning the use of natural gas in Vancouver.”

The city’s statement said the new green building rezoning policy that commences May 1 is part of the city’s efforts to make Vancouver a zero-emissions city, using only renewable energy by 2050. The policy sets new energy and emissions targets only if a developer seeks a rezoning. Developers have the option of switching to renewable natural gas or using other methods to meet the new targets of a 50-percent decrease in greenhouse gases. Alternative methods include insulation, improvements to building envelopes and windows.

The city policy has been a hot-button issue for months. One of the most vocal critics of the new policy had been Fortis B.C., which says residents and small businesses will see their costs rise if developers and consumers are forced to switch to other fuel sources.

In a statement to Postmedia on the issue in November 2016, Fortis spokesman Jason Wolfe said, “We incur costs. We have pipes in the ground in Vancouver that our customers pay for.”

Wolfe said that if customers are no longer “hooked up to us,” Fortis would have to recover the costs from other ratepayers and consumers in the province.