In Canada, some cities in British Columbia have implemented their own bans on gas hookups in new developments, Victoria among them. Come October, a ban will come into effect in Montreal on gas-powered heating systems, stoves and water heaters in most new buildings.

No municipalities in Ontario have implemented similar gas bans, but the province’s energy regulator gave Ottawa climate activists a win last year when it rejected Enbridge’s application to build a new gas pipeline in the city to replace an aging one. The regulator determined that repairing and retrofitting the existing pipeline would be sufficient at a time when the city is trying to wean itself off fossil fuels.

Gas bans have continued to spread and evolve in the USA. On the east coast, several Maryland counties are introducing changes to building codes to ensure that heating in new buildings is all-electric. And late last year, local lawmakers in Burlington, Vermont, approved new requirements that developers use low-carbon or renewable sources of energy to heat their buildings or pay a one-time carbon fee for their expected life-cycle emissions.

Let’s pressure the Ontario government to do the same.