The District of North Vancouver has joined a growing coalition of local governments calling for an end to all new oil and gas infrastructure.
At their final council meeting of the year Dec. 13, district council voted to endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, a call for the rapid transition away from carbon-based fuels.
The motion from Coun. Megan Curren cites the hundreds of deaths from June’s heat dome, flooding, extreme forest fire risk and wildfire smoke, and sea level rise as consequences of the climate emergency.
The motion directs council to formally petition Premier John Horgan and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to support the treaty.
“While there is much we can and must do at the local government level to keep DNV residents safe and healthy, local governments can also use our collective voices to drive system change at other orders of government,” Curren’s report states.
Along with the treaty, Curren’s motion affirms the district’s commitment to reduce community-wide carbon pollution emissions by 45 per cent, over 2007 levels, by 2030.
Advocacy group Force of Nature persuaded West Vancouver council to sign the treaty last month.
Because of particularly busy final council meeting of the year, Mayor Mike Little opted to move the vote to the consent agenda, meaning it was passed unanimously without any discussion along with several other agenda items.
