Wednesday February 10, 2010
For Immediate Release
Toronto: For the first time ever, Toronto’s environmental community has come together and identified six key environmental priorities it wants Toronto’s new Mayor to adopt.
“Torontonians expect the new Mayor to build on our environmental successes of the past 10 years,” said Franz Hartmann, Executive Director of the Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA). “Today, we’re setting out 6 environmental priorities we expect Mayoralty candidates to commit to and speak about over the next 8 months.”
The priorities include:
- Build Transit City and fund it
Achieve 70% waste diversion by 2012
Buy and support locally-produced green products
Build transportation infrastructure everyone can use
Implement the City's Sustainable Energy Strategy
Provide tools to prevent pollution
“What ties all of these priorities together is that implementing them will not only improve our environment, it will lead to better health and save us money as we avoid some of the huge financial costs associated with traffic congestion, waste disposal, climate change, and illnesses due to pollution,” said Hartmann.
The six priorities were endorsed by 12 environmental groups including the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, Canadian Environmental Law Association, Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy, David Suzuki Foundation, Environmental Defence, Evergreen, Greenpeace Canada, Pembina Institute, Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation, Toronto Cyclists Union, the Toronto Environmental Alliance, and the Toronto Renewable Energy Cooperative.
“Because Toronto is the biggest city in Canada, what happens here has a big impact on the rest of the country,” said Theresa McClenaghan, Executive Director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association. “That’s why so many prominent environmental groups endorsed these priorities. We want to send a clear signal to all Mayoralty candidates that these priorities matter and that the next Mayor must adopt them.”
“I’m sure Mayoralty candidates will have lots of issues to disagree about,” said Rick Smith, Executive Director of Environmental Defence. “But we hope every one of them will agree it’s important to build on Toronto's environmental successes by implementing these priorities.”
Mayoralty candidates will be asked to endorse the 6 priorities and to communicate their support for them as they speak to Torontonians over the next 8 months.
Visit www.torontoenvironment.org/voteto for more information.
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For more information, contact: Dr. Franz Hartmann, Executive Director: cell 416-606-8881