Council agreed last week to sign the city’s name to a letter urging the province to help local governments meet their energy reduction targets but not everyone was on board.
At the Dec. 17 council meeting, council was asked by the Pembina Institute to sign a letter of support requesting the B.C. government strengthen policies to help communities improve energy efficiency in residential buildings.
Campbell River was asked to sign the letter because it’s one of several municipalities participating in the Green Building Leaders Program which exists to try and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from residential and commercial buildings in B.C.
Mayor Walter Jakeway, who was the first to speak, refused the request.
“I will not be supporting it,” Jakeway said. “I have not much use for the Pembina Institute. I’ll be voting ‘no.’”
Coun. Andy Adams took a different view.
“Appreciating your opinion, I’m not too far different from it to be honest, however, in sitting at the (Advisory Planning and Environment) commission’s meeting and hearing the discussion of the commission members and also members of the development community (I heard) that there was no objection or no concerns,” Adams said. “The reason that we have the commission is to advise us and as a result, I’ll be supporting this.”
The letter, which was written by the Pembina Institute, asks the province to support energy retrofit financing and funding; work with local governments to develop opt-in building regulations; explore and work towards a B.C. wide home labeling requirement; and advance smart modernization of the B.C. building code. The requests are aimed at making it easier for B.C. municipalities and regional districts to meet their energy and climate objectives.