The Quebec government has still not approved the regulation adopted by the Montreal Metropolitan Community to ban natural gas in new buildings which is due to come into force in January.
Posted at 10:29 a.m.
This is an unacceptable delay, according to members of the Let’s Get Out the Gas Coalition. “This delay is unacceptable because it hinders the climate action of the CMM and also slows down the momentum of Quebec municipalities who would like to move forward to adopt a similar regulation in order to remove gas from buildings,” denounced the coalition .
The adoption of this regulation which binds 79 municipalities had aroused opposition, in particular from Hydro-Québec which is banking on electricity-natural gas dual energy to meet winter peak demand.
A similar regulation adopted by the town of Prévost, in the Laurentians, was even the subject of a challenge by the gas distributor Énergir, an approach which was abandoned.
The CMM claims to have obtained assurance from Hydro-Québec that the state company can meet the needs of municipalities which will ban natural gas for heating buildings.
To come into force on 1is next January as planned, the CMM regulations must be approved by the government, an approval which is slow in coming.
“The Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks, responsible for approving this regulation, indicates that it is awaiting the opinion of the Ministry of the Economy, Innovation and of Energy. The latter, for his part, limits himself to declaring that he is “analyzing the file”, without providing a date or clear commitment,” the members of the Coalition are indignant.
“Without authorization before the deadline of 1is January 2025, the sustained efforts to decarbonize the CMM, which represents nearly 50% of the population of Quebec, will have been in vain.”
The coalition, which brings together organizations such as Doctors for the Environment, Équiterre and the Regroupement des organisms Environnemental en Énergie, believes that natural gas is wrongly presented as a transition fuel “because it contributes significantly to emissions of GHGs in the buildings sector and delays the transition to 100% renewable energies.
