Climate Action.

For many years, I believed climate change action was about taking personal responsibility - that each individual had to do their part to reduce our emissions. I’ve made choices in my life to support this end - I’m an avid reduce, reuse, and recycler, I started riding my bike to work to support the Kyoto protocol, and even have a worm compost bin in the tiny storage closet of my two bedroom condo. 

But I’ve started to see how systemic changes are needed to truly tackle climate change. Our city needs to make sure that sustainable choices are easy to make for everyone. The Community Energy Transition Strategy gives us a clear roadmap of where we need to go and I’m committed to following this direction. There are a number of approaches I’m particularly passionate about.  

Land use & transportation.

The most direct levers City Council has to pull in order to achieve our climate change goals are land use and transportation. Drawing on my extensive city planning and land use experience, I will champion strategies that allow new homes and businesses to be built in existing areas of the city to make best use of our existing infrastructure, reduce the loss of agricultural and natural lands, and avoid the need for long commutes. I will also work to ensure that any suburban development that does occur is truly transit oriented, compact, and provides walkable amenities. 

I also believe firmly in the importance of increased investment in transit, cycling and walking and rolling infrastructure. This includes everything from big moves like continued LRT expansion to small micro-interventions like crosswalk improvements to make our communities safer and more accessible. All of these make it easier to move around our city in a less carbon intensive way, and reduces the amount of asphalt that can contribute to urban heat island effect. 

Investment.

On Council, I’ll work to expand and strengthen the City’s green grant programs and show leadership in climate investment. I’m excited about the recent Clean Energy Improvement Pilot Program as I believe this innovative financing program can help support the adoption of green technologies. I’d like to see future retrofit and solar panel grants focused on multi-unit buildings which can provide economies of scale and better serve the 75% of O-day’min residents who live in apartment and condo buildings. I’d also like to see the City offering incentives to encourage the green energy sector to flourish in Edmonton. We are already seeing the beginning of this emerging economy and we need to be proactive in ensuring we capture this incredible opportunity. 

I’d also like to see the City speed up the greening of our fleets and use City-owned buildings to prototype deep energy retrofit work. This approach can provide invaluable learning experiences and show leadership to inspire the private sector to follow suit. 

Waste.

It’s been exciting to see the rollout of source separated waste bins for lower density housing in Edmonton, but I’d like to see this program expanded to multi-family housing as soon as possible. The City is currently planning to implement waste sorting for multi-family buildings in 2023. I think it’s of keen importance for a Ward like O-day’min, with so many of our residents living in these types of buildings, that this timeline is moved up. 

We also need to work to ensure our city makes it easy for all of us to reduce our waste. Waste Free Edmonton is an exciting initiative working to that end that and I’d like to explore a range of complementary approaches, like programs that provide businesses with a reduction in waste collection fees if they move to a fully reusable model. There could also be great opportunities for social enterprises around reusable plates and cups in our city core. If the industrious kids at FolkFest have taught us anything, it’s that there’s money to be made in plate deposits. 

Accountability.

I’m encouraged by City Plan policy 5.3.3.3 which states that we should implement Edmonton’s carbon budget through ongoing development decisions. I’m committed to working with stakeholders to ensure that Council implements a carbon analysis for all decisions, and that we are independently evaluated on whether our decisions have kept us within our targets. The City also needs to implement very clear accounting and tracking, ensuring that our operating and capital budget highlights carbon savings and climate change investment. This should include quarterly updates or dashboards to report on our progress.

The opportunity.

It’s essential that we reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Not only is this what needs to be done to avert climate disaster, it’s also a path to increased prosperity as our world and economy change. Investing in new alternative energy, new forms of transportation, and sustainable development will create jobs and improve quality of life, making our economy and community stronger.