Winnipeg councillor frustrated after committee rejects motion to study natural gas alternatives

A Winnipeg councillor is questioning the city's commitment to its climate goals after a committee voted to take no action on a motion that would have led to a study on ways to phase out natural gas.

Last month, the city's climate action and resilience committee — an advisory body made up of citizen appointees and chaired by a member of council — passed a motion calling on the city to study "tools and mechanisms available to phase out the use of natural gas" in both existing and new buildings.

The water and waste committee voted 2-1 on Friday to receive the motion as information, meaning the committee did not direct city staff to take any action. 

The city's Community Energy Investment Roadmap, a guiding document adopted by council to help the city improve its energy efficiency, states that buildings produce 44 per cent of the city's total carbon emissions.

It sets a goal of converting all buildings to electric heating by 2050.

Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) was the only member of the water and waste committee who voted in support of the study at Friday's meeting.

"I guess my frustration would be why have these commitments if you're not, if you don't really believe them?" said Mayes, who previously chaired the committee until a shuffle this past summer removed him from the post.

Mayes, who also serves as chair of the climate action committee, was reappointed to sit as a regular member on the water and waste committee earlier this month.

Water and waste chair Coun. Evan Duncan and Coun. Shawn Dobson voted against the motion. 

In an interview, Duncan said there may be some smaller steps the city can take, but fully phasing out natural gas would be too difficult and costly for the city to manage on its own.

"This needs to be working with the province and the feds," he said.

Mayes said the municipal government should look at retrofitting its own buildings, if it can't take on the task of converting the entire city.

"I get that money's tight, but let's at least do something for the environment," he said. "Let's at least retrofit our own buildings so that we're using … less natural gas and saving carbon tax at the same time."

A city report released in September 2023 identified 15 buildings the city could retrofit at a cost of nearly $51 million. That would reduce the city's carbon tax payments by roughly $9 million from 2023 to 2030, the report said.

Several people came and spoke in favour of the study at Friday's meeting, including Derek Earl, founder of Biz for Climate, a coalition of businesses committed to fighting climate change.

He said he's disappointed the motion will not be going forward.

"[The motion] was really about gathering the information and doing the report back on what the options are," he said. "So we have to think … what are the next steps? Where do we go from here?"

After voting to take no action on the motion to study phasing out natural gas, the committee approved another motion from Mayes, asking the province for an update on creating a new geothermal utility.

That motion still needs approval from council.