For Immediate Release
December 13, 2010

Santa Makes Special Delivery to Toronto Councillors

Toronto: On the eve of the first full Council meeting, Santa Claus made a special delivery of almost 2,000 letters to Toronto City Councillors from Torontonians. The letters ask the newly elected Councillors to keep the environmental promises they made during the election campaign.

“I am very honoured that Santa Claus came all the way from the North Pole to help deliver these letters to City Councillors on the eve of the first full Council meeting,” said Franz Hartmann, Executive Director of the Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA). “We hope this special delivery from Santa (on behalf of Torontonians) will further motivate Councillors to honour their commitment to the environment as they get down to business.”

On October 25th, Torontonians elected 24 Councillors from all corners of the City who committed to implementing key environmental actions. Each of the 24 Councillors answered “yes” to at least16 of 20 questions that asked them to commit to a host of environmental actions. Details of their commitments can be found atwww.torontoenvironment.org/voteto.

One of the key environmental commitments was to continue building Transit City. On his way to deliver the letters to City Councillors, Santa Claus noted he has heard Torontonians have been flooding Councillors with emails asking them to support Transit City. Santa noted he hoped Toronto’s new Mayor would “play fair” and ensure City Council votes on the fate of Transit City.

“Too much is at stake with Toronto’s transit future to let the Transit Commission, made up of a small group of people who do not represent the entire city, make the decision,” said Hartmann. “Mayor Ford has a moral obligation to let the people’s representatives decide.”

Santa Claus also noted that he will be watching what happens at Council over the next year. “Mrs. Claus and I will keep an eye on the new City Council, starting Thursday, to see who is naughty and who is nice,” said Santa Claus. “Let’s hope the Councillors honour their green promises. If not, next year I’ll be delivering a lump of coal for those who don’t.”

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For more information, contact: Franz Hartmann, Executive Director