Campaign to put climate in the municipal budgetThe City of Toronto has adopted an ambitious climate target, Net Zero by 2040, and a plan to go with it. Concerned that the funds allocated in the proposed 2022 budget were insufficient to meet the climate action and climate justice goals, ClimateFast, in partnership with other organizations, campaigned for full funding for the Transform TO climate plan. Efforts included writing letters to the Mayor and Council, giving deputations at budget committee meetings and co-signing a letter as one of 59 organizations calling for the Mayor and City Councillors to address the crises in our city, and to improve the budget process.
Read more about our municipal budget campaign. Thanks to everyone who deputed, emailed their councillor and signed the online letter. City Council met on Feb. 17th and passed the budget, with some amendments. Here’s a link to their motions, amendments and how the councillors voted. Request for environmental assessment for the Bradford Bypass deniedThe office of the Federal Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault, confirmed on Feb. 10th that the second request for a federal environmental assessment of the proposed Bradford Bypass highway was denied. The Bradford bypass will negatively affect woodlands, the Holland Marsh, wetlands, and wildlife habitats. It will also enable an increase in single vehicle car use.
However, the project’s future isn’t guaranteed. Ontario is a few months away from an election and all the opposition parties at Queen’s Park are either calling for the bypass to be cancelled or re-examined. The Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition has not given up the fight. You can share information and strategies that support stopping the Bradford Bypass through the Bradford Bypass Organizing Group. For more information about the Bradford Bypass read this article in the Narwhal. An End to Oil and Gas in QuebecBill 21, introduced in the National Assembly of Quebec on February 3rd, will put an end to the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons, namely oil and gas, in the territory of Quebec. See the press release from Centre Québécois du droit de l’environnement. Also, CBC News reported that, as of December 31, 2021, Quebec has banned oil heating in new homes and will make it illegal to replace existing oil furnaces with any sort of heating system powered by fossil fuels after Dec. 31, 2023. Burnaby City Council endorses the FFNPTOn January 24th, Burnaby City Council voted to endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, becoming the sixth municipality in Canada to do so! The others are the City of Toronto, City of Vancouver, City of New Westminster, District of North Vancouver, and District of West Vancouver. A total of 34 cities & sub-national governments have endorsed the treaty, along with 152,737 Individuals and over 1,000 organizations. Gas stoves leak methane even while off, boosting climate changeCBC News reported that, according to a study published Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022, in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, gas stoves are worse for the climate than previously thought because of constant tiny methane leaks even while they're off. Many communities have bans on gas stove use in future new construction that will take effect in future years. Read more of the CBC article. Ontario to initiate a registry for clean energy creditsOntario has announced a new voluntary registry for businesses that want credit for using non-emitting electricity, both renewable and nuclear. The Ford government says the clean energy credit (CEC) registry will give companies another option to meet their sustainability targets, and is headlining the system as a way to attract new investors to the province. However, the Pembina Institute cautions that an open-ended market for clean energy credits won’t be enough to drive the renewable energy development the province needs.
Read more about it in The Energy Mix.
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