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CouncilWatch-July 19 2007

Posted July 19th, 2007 by admin
Author: 
Toronto Environmental Alliance

In this edition:

1. Historic Smog and Climate Change Action Plan Unanimously Adopted by Toronto Council!
2. One Step Closer to a Community Right to Know Bylaw!
3. Greenbelting Toronto Campaign Celebrates First Victory: Local Food Part of City’s Smog and Climate Change Action Plan!
4. TEA Continues Partnering with Tenants to Promote Energy Efficiency
5. New Report: Provincial Export of Dirty Electricity to U.S. in 2006 Responsible for 130 Ontario Deaths

 

1. Historic Smog and Climate Change Action Plan Unanimously Adopted by Toronto Council!

Toronto has taken a huge step forward in cleaning the air and becoming a North
American leader in curbing global warming. On Monday evening, Council
unanimously adopted an aggressive smog and climate change action plan
(to read the plan, click here.)

While there is still much work to be done to implement the action plan, the
Mayor and Council have shown they are serious about cutting smog and
greenhouse gases in Toronto.

But not all the news is good….

Unfortunately, just before adopting the action plan, City Council made a decision that could end up undermining the action plan. As most Council Watch readers
probably know, the Mayor’s plan to adopt two new revenue tools that
would raise $300 million needed to balance next year’s budget was
defeated. Instead, Council agreed to revisit the issue after the
October 10 provincial election.

Both opponents and supporters of the Mayor’s revenue tools plan agree the real culprits are the Provincial and Federal governments who downloaded the responsibilities and costs of expensive programs to cities in the 1990s. As it stands,
the city can no longer afford to pay for these downloaded programs and
keep current services without either raising new revenues or getting
the provincial and federal governments to once again pay for the
downloaded programs.

The bad news for Toronto’s air and for curbing climate change is that unless these revenue issues are
resolved, there will be no money available to pay for the smog and
climate change action plan.

TEA urges Council Watch readers to:

1.
Contact their City Councillors and let them know we need revenues to
make the smog and climate change action plan a reality.
2. Urge
provincial candidates to help Toronto out of its financial crisis and
to assist the city in financing the smog and climate change action plan.

2. One Step Closer to a Community Right to Know Bylaw!

July
9th was a very exciting day at City Hall as the City of Toronto moved
one step closer to a Community Right to Know Bylaw. After deputations
by TEA and a number of other CRTK supporters, the Board of Health (BOH)
voted unanimously to adopt a Toronto Public Health's (TPH)
recommendation to develop a mandatory environmental reporting program.
This program will require facilities to report the use and emissions of
25 toxic chemicals of priority health concern. TPH is due to report
back to the Board of Health in Spring 2008 on a DRAFT BYLAW AND
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN!

TEA Urges Council Watchers to:

  • Contact their City Councillors and congratulate them on moving one step closer to a CRTK Bylaw.
  • Put
    your community on our toxics map! Submit questions and stories about
    local releases of toxic chemicals in your neighborhood to TEA’s new
    Secrecy Is Toxic initiative. Go to secrecyistoxic.ca to find out more information.

For the full report click here.

Here are links to some of the latest press on right to know:

Toronto Star, Editorial, Monday, July 9th, 2007 "Toxins and small businesses" click here

Globe and Mail, Monday, July 9th, 2007
"Right to Know may apply to the little guys" Martin Mittelstaedt click here

Toronto Star, Friday, July 6th, 2007
"Dangerous air spurs call for pollution disclosure" Peter Gorrie click here

3. Greenbelting Toronto Campaign Celebrates First Victory: Local Food Part of City’s Smog and Climate Change Action Plan!

On
Monday, City Council adopted a recommendation calling for a working
group to support local food production and consumption. This was part
of the City’s Climate Change Action Plan. The recommendation asks the
new “Enviro-Food Working Group�? to develop a food purchasing policy
that favours local, greenbelt-grown food.

Anticipating this,
TEA worked with local food groups and greenbelt farmers in June and put
together a draft food procurement policy for the City. The draft policy
would ensure that half of the food purchased by the City for day cares,
shelters, and homes for the aged (almost $30 million in total!) comes
from local farmers.

For those still unclear about the link
between local food and climate change, did you know that carrots bought
from a local farmer can produce 60 times less greenhouse gas emissions
than carrots imported from California?


New Greenbelt “Food From Home“ Campaign

Local
food campaigns discourage people from eating food grown outside the
area where they live. However a large portion of Toronto’s diverse
communities eat food (often known as “food from home“) not
traditionally grown in Canada,.

TEA has just launched a
campaign to help connect Toronto’s diverse communities with Greenbelt
farmers that grow “food from home.“

Over the next few months,
TEA will be developing culture-specific guides highlighting stores that
sell Greenbelt-grown “food from home.“ TEA’s initial work will be with
groups in Toronto’s Chinese and South Asian communities.

4. TEA Continues Partnering with Tenants to Promote Energy Efficiency

Following on the heels of the highly successful Brahms Energy Savings Team project (click here). TEA is once again working with tenants to save energy, money and the environment.

This
time we’re at an east-end Toronto Community Housing Corporation complex
on Walpole Avenue. Over the next few months, TEA will be working with
tenants to figure out innovative ways tenants can reduce energy use,
electricity bills and greenhouse gas emissions.

Last week saw
the kick-off of the program with a community BBQ hosted by TEA.
Residents came out for a bite to eat and to complete surveys on energy
use in their units. The surveys will provide TEA with important
information to design a program suited to Walpole residents. There was
lots of enthusiasm and many folks were excited to get involved in TEA’s
upcoming educational initiatives.

5. New Report: Provincial Export of Dirty Electricity to U.S. in 2006
Responsible for 130 Ontario Deaths

On
Monday, TEA was joined by the Ontario Clean Air Alliance and Dr. Hilary
de Veber, an east-end pediatrician, to release a disturbing report
which revealed that provincially-owned Ontario Power Generation’s
(OPG’s) exporting of dirty, coal-fired electricity to the United States
was responsible for up to 130 unnecessary fatalities in Ontario.

The
report also noted that in 2006 selling dirty electricity to the U.S.
was responsible for an estimated 200 additional hospital admissions and
approximately 65,000 other illnesses such as asthma attacks.

At
the press conference, TEA Executive Director Franz Hartmann noted: “I
can’t figure out why the Premier is allowing this to happen. He knows
that the pollution from coal-fired electricity kills Ontarians. He
knows that the City of Toronto is actively trying to reduce smog and
cut greenhouse gas emissions here in Toronto. Yet, he allows OPG, which
is completely owned by the Government of Ontario, to produce dirty,
deadly electricity not to keep the lights on, but to export it to the
U.S. to make a buck. It’s unbelievable and, frankly, completely
irresponsible.“

The good news is that these deaths can be
avoided simply by having the Premier tell OPG to stop the exporting of
coal-fired electricity except in an emergency.

(For a copy of the press release, click here.

Our
press conference got major media coverage across the province, as well
as in other parts of North America. Below are some of the links to
stories from the press conference: