B.C. Liberals take aim at City of Vancouver's goal of 100 percent renewable energy

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      Once again, the B.C. Liberals have placed themselves squarely on the side of the fossil-fuel industry.

      The Vancouver Sun has reported that the chief spokesperson in Vancouver, Andrew Wilkinson, says that if his party is re-elected, it will "repeal the city's ban on natural gas".

      There is no actual ban on natural gas in Vancouver, but council has asked staff to explore how the city can become 100 percent reliant on renewable energy by 2050.

      Vancouver is one of a growing number of cities that are trying to eliminate the production of greenhouse gases through heating buildings, transportation, and other ways in which energy is used.

      Council has asked staff to figure out how to shift to zero-emission buildings by 2030.

      It's scaring the daylights out of the fossil-fuel purveyors, including FortisBC and Encana, and this is why their mouthpiece, Resource Works, is trying to mobilize opposition.

      In the general scheme of things, Vancouver is fairly small potatoes. The risk is if cities like Burnaby, New Westminster, the City of North Vancouver and, heaven forbid, Toronto and Montreal decide to follow suit.

      Victoria already has joined the growing list, which includes Copenhagen and San Francisco.

      The Wilderness Committee revealed earlier this year that the B.C. Liberals have collected more than $1 million in donations from the natural gas industry since the last provincial election.

      The largest contributor was Encana over that period. It gave $338,041 to the ruling Liberal party, and another $114,540 came from Chevron since the 2013 election.

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