Ontario and Quebec municipalities join forces on climate change

Municipal leaders from Ontario and Quebec joined forces in Ottawa Wednesday to demand proper funding for climate change initiatives by local governments as Canada’s federal and provincial leaders head to the Paris UN Climate Conference.

Gary McNamara, President of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and Suzanne Roy, President of the Union of Quebec Municipalities signed a Climate Change Action Covenant, which commits the two associations to work together and support each other on climate action.

The Covenant signals to the federal and provincial governments that municipalities in Canada’s most populous provinces are willing partners in the fight against climate change, said McNamara, mayor of the Town of Tecumseh, in a phone interview with RCI.

Municipalities have been playing and will continue to play a major role in climate change initiatives, said McNamara.

“We’re seeing even smaller communities adopting public transit, we’re working on controlling storm water systems, we’re very heavily involved in renewable energies – solar panels and wind farms, we’re doing efficient street lights, we do waste diversion, recycling, composting, green building standards, green roofs,” McNamara said.

McNamara said the goal is to make sure that proper funding for climate change initiatives flows not only from the federal government to the provinces and territories, but also reaches municipal and local governments.

Municipalities own most of Canada’s infrastructure, so investing in sustainable local projects will help meet provincial emission targets and also protect residents and economies from the effects of climate change, he said.

“And we certainly don’t want to be left behind as the major players at the local level in trying to reduce and continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But it takes dollars for us to achieve that.”