Council vote on Vancouver ban brings music and protest to steps of City Hall

As conservative Vancouver city councillors prepare to vote on whether to overturn a key climate measure banning natural gas for home heating in new buildings, hearings stretched days beyond schedule with over 140 people voicing opinions. 

The opposition carried on outside the building, too. Dozens of people rallied Tuesday on the steps of City Hall. The group shared songs and speeches in an effort to stop councillors from eliminating the four-year-old ban, which a majority of councillors indicated they were prepared to overturn. Commuters passing in front of the building honked in support of the protest. 

The gathering was the final episode of a months-long battle by homebuilders, businesses and environmental groups to protect the city's landmark ban established in 2020. The future of the ban — a Canadian first — has been in limbo since July, when Mayor Ken Sim and conservative councillors tried to scrap it, citing affordability concerns. Subsequent reporting revealed close ties between Sim's senior advisor and the natural gas industry. 

On Tuesday, councillors met for what was supposed to be a final vote on the decision. With 140 people scheduled to speak about the decision, and the need for two councilors from the ruling party to vote against party lines, tension filled the air. As so many people lined up to speak,  the debate carried on through Wednesday and potentially into Thursday.

Avi Lewis, a journalist and climate activist, addressed the crowd gathered outside City Hall.

"We are living in an intense moment, the clouds of [right-wing] backlash are on the horizon. Trump is coming. Poilievre is surging. They are bringing a storm of resentment, of toxic anger, division and hate… They want to undo climate policies like this one we're fighting for today, and they want to drag us back into the age of pollution and prejudice,” Lewis told the crowd.

"But here in Vancouver, we can still be a beacon of light, of clean air, and clean skies, and clean buildings, and clean homes; cozy in the winter, cool in the summer. We don't need methane gas in buildings. We need heat pumps for all, so until the wind shifts and those bigger victories are possible again, we will be here fighting for our beautiful city, holding up a beacon in the darkness that is coming." 

Buildings are responsible for about 55 per cent of Vancouver's greenhouse gas emissions. City staff have noted that even with the 2020 restrictions on natural gas use, the city is not on track to meet its 2030 climate goals. Several analyses — including from B.C. Hydro, B.C. Housing and Clean Energy Canada — say installing electric heating systems, like heat pumps in new buildings, typically cost the same or less, as using gas.

Heat pumps also cool buildings in summer, a feature that is becoming increasingly important as the climate crisis deepens and threatens Vancouver with extreme heat. B.C.'s chief coroner linked the 2021 heat dome to 619 deaths in the province, and recommended access to air conditioning going forward. 

Medical professionals and researchers also note that the use of gas appliances indoors can harm human health. Cooking ranges – which are not affected by Vancouver's restrictions – and other appliances release carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide and particulate matter into the air, exacerbating asthma and other health issues. 

Quebec recently decided to phase out natural gas heating in all homes by 2040. In B.C., 11 municipalities have moved to ban natural gas heating in new buildings, including several of Vancouver's immediate neighbours, according to city staff. This shift has already pushed many builders to ditch gas appliances in favour of electricity. In October, dozens of Vancouver construction industry leaders called on the city to preserve the ban. 

The city's affordability crisis "is not the result of current emissions limits for new buildings," they wrote in a letter to the city. Building costs are far more influenced by financing rates, permitting times and fees, labour, equipment and material costs, and land values than emissions requirements, they said. 

Despite this wall of support for Vancouver's restrictions, the fossil fuel industry has not given up in its efforts to save itself from obsolescence. FortisBC, the provincial gas utility, has spent years lobbying against Vancouver's measures and similar ones implemented elsewhere in the province. The motion to eliminate Vancouver's gas ban came after a backroom meeting between councillor Brian Montague and a FortisBC lobbyist; Mayor Sim's senior advisor is a director of two gas companies. 

To boost its backroom efforts, the company has bombarded the province with misleading ad campaigns about the climate impacts of its fuel. 

Still, it was evident on the steps of City Hall Tuesday that the pro-gas lobby – and Vancouver's ruling party – has hit a nerve. Songs, speeches and percussion beats filled the plaza; inside the building, the galley was packed. Heat pumps, objectively un-sexy devices, had become a symbol of a brighter future.  

"I went through an existential crisis two weeks ago, a climate existential crisis, and I felt I needed to get out here and do some activism," said  Sunny Das, a second-year student at the University of British Columbia who attended the protest.  "It can be really daunting in terms of the immensity of the struggle that we face, especially for Gen Z. If we want a world to live in, we gotta fight for it."