metronews.

ca
Tuesday, March 3, 2015

I Climate change should be a

priority in budget: Councillor

Cost. Taking action

pricey, but not as costly
as doing nothing, warns
David Chernushenko

l iMf',jji
The five action items in the
city's climate plan:
1.

JOE
LOFARO

Convert Ottawa's street

lighting system to LED by
2020.

joe.lofaro@ metronews.ca

Doing something.about climate

change is not a priority in the
2015 draft budget, but it ought
to be because it is the most "urgent, pressing and potentially
.:expensive challenge facing
'the human population on the
planet," says Coun. David Chernushenko.
The Capital Ward councillor,
who is also chair of the city's
environment committee, said
prioritizing funds for climate
change initiatives, such as tai<ing more cars off the road and
converting to energy-efficient
lighting, could potentially be
pricey for Ottawa, but nowhere
near the costs of doing nothing.
Chernushenko said it's

2.

Work with the Ontario

Power Authority (OPA),
Electrical Safety Authority, Energy Ottawa and/
or others to ensure FIT
installations at city facilities
can be used as a backup
energy supply.

a challenge to convince city

council it is a priority.
"In the case of Ottawa, we're
all sort of chuckling right now
saying, 'Climate change ha-haha, look how cold it is.' Well,
guess what? That's climate
change," he said.
"Western North America
is suffering from unusually
hot temperatures and severe
drought and the middle to east-

change ahead of more budget

talks. He said it appears only
3. Implement Vehicle Tele-

matics for Municipal Fleet.

4. Identify and prioritize land

for protection, acquisition

and naturalization, taking
climate change into consideration.
5. Complete the Forest

Management Strategy that

identifies ways to increase
tree cover and maintain
the health of this city asset.

em North America has been

under a deep freeze."
In May 2014, city council
adopted a climate change plan
with five action items that were
to be considered in the 2015
draft budget
In a recent newsletter, Ecology Ottawa executive director
Graham Saul calls on the public
to contact their councillor to
make some noise about climate

one of those items, relating to

the city's forest management
strategy, is included in the draft
budget
City staff wrote in an email
to Metro on Monday the forest management strategy is already being funded by the 2014
budget "No new additional
money required," the email
read
In addition to the budget,
city council must also consider
where to direct $37.4 million to
fund strategic initiatives for the
2015-18 term.
"Right now at city hall
there's this big battle going
about whose priorities are gcr
ing to be funded with that $37
million," said Saul, who would
like to see the remaining four
items in the climate change action plan receive funding.
Chernushenko agrees some
of the funding should go to climate change actions and said
he will push for the ones that
have the greatest bang for the
buck