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." Proponents of the move to include natural gas say it will give homebuilders more choice, and speed up construction in the process. (Ben Nelms/CBC) 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 g.