Dan Fumano: On Vancouver mayor's adviser David Grewal and his roles with natural gas companies, former Toronto mayor David Miller says it seems like a clear conflict. "This case wouldn't be in the grey area," Miller said. "It's very clear."

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Vancouver’s Green city councillors are calling for more transparency and better decision-making at city hall after a Postmedia News story raised questions about the outside business interests of Mayor Sim’s senior adviser and his involvement in a controversial shift on natural gas policy.

In a surprise move in July, Vancouver’s ABC-majority council narrowly voted to allow natural gas for heating and hot water in new buildings, reversing a policy established in 2020 by a previous council to reduce greenhouse gases.

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Postmedia reported that ABC Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s senior adviser, David Grewal, was involved in discussions around the city’s natural gas policy, including meeting with a lobbyist for Fortis, B.C.’s largest natural gas supplier, while simultaneously serving as a director of two privately held Vancouver-based natural gas companies.

Grewal has declined requests for comment. The mayor’s office has said it’s confident Grewal’s roles with his businesses “do not in any way interfere with his duty at the city,” and the policy change’s affect on his firms will not be large.

But some, including non-ABC councillors, believed Grewal should have recused himself from such discussions.

Green councillors Adriane Carr and Pete Fry have announced their intention to introduce two motions later this month, before city staff provide proposed bylaws allowing natural gas for adoption. The motions seek more information about the implications of such a policy shift and transparency around lobbying at city hall.

Carr has questioned the accuracy of some information presented by ABC council members in July to support changing the natural gas policy. Recent revelations about........

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