Q: Every winter, the Comox Valley experiences poor air quality due to high levels of harmful fine particulate matter from wood stoves. We experience air quality advisories and frequently break BC Air Quality Objectives. We are one of the worst communities of 13 monitored in the Georgia Strait Air Zone. Everyone’s health can be impacted by poor air quality, particularly children, seniors, and people with pre-existing conditions.
Are you concerned about wood smoke in the Comox Valley and how it is affecting people’s health?
Yes. I know people who have moved to Cumberland with no history of respiratory illness, become sick with asthma, then moved to a higher part of town above the bulk of the winter woodsmoke, and seen their symptoms ease dramatically. Sadly, we all know what it feels like to breathe wildfire smoke, and the effect on vulnerable people is serious.
Q: The development of the Comox Valley Airshed Roundtable Action Plan involved local governments, health authorities, industry groups, environmental non-profits, and community members. The plan’s goals include a reduction of existing wood-burning appliances and their emissions, a transition away from wood-burning appliances in densely populated areas, along with a reduction of yard waste burning, promotion of alternatives, and expanded research data on particulate mater.
If elected, will you work toward fulfilling the 2023 Comox Valley Airshed Roundtable Action Plan?
Yes. Reducing the total amount of wood burning and limiting pollution through the winter is the right objective. It doesn’t mean we need to ban woodstoves, but to make sure that they are used less often and correctly.
Q: To help ensure the wood smoke problem does not get any worse, all three municipalities passed bylaws to prevent wood stoves from being installed in new construction. In Comox and Courtenay, the bylaws also say homes that do not already have a wood-burning appliance are not allowed to install one. These bylaws effectively cap the number of wood stoves in these municipalities, helping to ensure the problem does not get any worse.
If elected, will you strengthen and build on your municipality’s “no new installation” bylaws to prevent the increase in the number of wood burning appliances?
My aim would be to reduce the number of homes that reply on wood as their primary heat source. For a few people with access to a cheap or free wood supply, using a woodstove can be a way to reduce costs, but for everyone who needs to buy wood from a local supplier, the cost is now dramatically higher than running an electric heat pump. If the province or federal government can continue to subsidise or incentivize heat pump installation for low income homes and rental units, people can enjoy the benefits of cheap heating and cooling, leaving the woodstove for the rare power outages and those evenings when a fire would be nice.
Q: Our summers are increasingly vulnerable to wildfire smoke. The danger to property and the potential for lost lives is real. While our ability to reduce wildfires in the summer is bound up with much larger climate change issue, our ability to reduce the same kind of smoke hazard in the winter is within our reach.
If elected, what will you do to reduce winter wood smoke pollution in the Comox Valley?
As for the previous question, I’d seek ways to incentivize the installation and use of electrical heat pumps for heating and cooling in existing homes, to make space in the ‘carrying capacity’ of our winter atmosphere and allow for less frequent woodstove use.